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Cyberattack forces 40,000-home landlord to shut down systems
Midlands housing association Bromford has been forced to “shut down its technology” after hackers attempted to access its systems.
In an update posted on the 40,000-home landlord’s website today, it said it had identified malicious attempts to breach its systems on 20 July and has now taken steps to secure its systems.
This means that some of Bromford’s key services have now been shut down, including the systems it uses to contact residents and suppliers and to book appointments with tenants.
As a result, the association is only taking calls to its main switchboard and has advised customers to only call in cases of emergency, such as danger to life or property.
Bromford has advised tenants not to email.
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In a video posted on social media, Dan Goodall, chief information officer at Bromford, said there had been no evidence yet that the attack had been successful, but that is taking steps to shut down its technology as a precaution.
He added: “We know how much of pain this must be and we’re sorry for missed appointments and how limited our service is, and returning to normal can only happen when we know our systems are safe.”
The housing association said tenants can still make payments via its automated phoneline and that neighbourhood coaches could be contacted by phone or text.
A statement from Bromford said direct debit payments were affected initially but are now back to normal.
Someone or some people tried to access our systems.
— Bromford (@Bromford)
While we have no evidence that they’ve been successful, as a precaution, we have shut down all of our technology.
Detailed updates here 👉🏽 t.co/C7HVfqOQRc#UKHousing pic.twitter.com/u2GqSeTbhvSomeone or some people tried to access our systems.
— Bromford (@Bromford) July 25, 2022
While we have no evidence that they've been successful, as a precaution, we have shut down all of our technology.
Detailed updates here 👉🏽 https://t.co/C7HVfqOQRc#UKHousing pic.twitter.com/u2GqSeTbhv
Dan Goodall, Bromford’s chief information officer, said: "On Wednesday 20 July we identified a malicious attempt to access our systems.
"In order to protect ourselves and our customers’ data, we took the precaution of taking all our systems offline. We have been working closely with our specialist data security partners and have found no evidence that any data has been accessed or that the attempts were successful.
"We are in the recovery phase of our response and have begun the process of opening up our systems in a safe manner so we can return to our normal ways of working.
"Taking the step of isolating ourselves while we investigate the incident has regrettably caused some disruption to our services. However, we have enacted business continuity plans to minimise the impact.
Bromford is the latest housing association to be hit by a cyberattack. Just a month ago, Clarion, the country’s largest housing association, was hit by an attack that closed down a number of its services.
The 125,000-home landlord is still being impacted by the attack and envisaged that it could take some time to bring services fully back online.
Clarion and Bromford are the latest in a growing list of housing associations and councils to have been affected by attacks.
Last year, Gloucester City Council was the victim of an attack by hackers thought to be based in Russia.
Hackney Council and 32,00-home Flagship Group have also been hit by attacks in recent years.
Inside Housing reported last year that Hackney Council’s housing services were then still affected by an attack that took place in 2020.
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