Redcar council excludes public from cyber-attack discussion

Redcar and Cleveland Council's systems have been down since 8 February after a ransomware attack.The Local Democracy Reporting Service understands no ransom has been paid. Concerned about "sensitive" information being discussed, council officials requested not to answer councillors' questions in public. Assistant director of governance Steve Newton said: "There is still a criminal investigation ongoing and I'm not quite sure where these questions will lead." At the resources committee meeting Labour councillor Sue Jeffrey wanted to know what business processes were unavailable. "So things like house searches, the planning portal, registration, building and control - all those sorts of things - access to historical files, regeneration projects, financial transactions?" she said.