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Police ‘clarify’ mistake after telling Clarion cyberattack victims their personal data could end up on dark web
Cambridgeshire Police have been forced to make a clarification after Clarion asked for a statement to be corrected in a letter the force had sent to some residents which claimed their personal information could be found on the dark web.
The correction comes after the force sent the letter to some Clarion residents in September, three months after the association was hit by a major cyberattack, in which it stated that it was possible some residents’ personal data could end up on the dark web in the future.
Clarion said it is now working with the force to correct aspects of the letter and provide an update on the attack to those residents.
The cyberattack against the 125,00-home landlord happened in June and affected several of its services, including phone lines and IT systems. As a result, Clarion told residents not to get in touch over the phone unless they needed an emergency repair.
In July, an update from the association stated that there was no evidence that passwords or customers’ information were accessed.
However, in a letter sent in September, Cambridgeshire Police warned a group of residents that it was possible that some of the data may appear on the dark web in the future.
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The letter said: “It is our understanding that some of this data contains personal identifiable information, such as name, address, date of birth etc.
“Cambridgeshire Police now know that your personal data, including personal identifiable data, exists in this data.”
The police said there is no evidence that any personal information had been abused at this time, but that it wanted to notify residents given the sensitive nature of the data.
When asked about the letter by Inside Housing, the UK’s largest housing association said it has written to the force to “correct certain statements in their letter”.
A spokesperson for Clarion said: “We have been working closely with authorities throughout our investigation into the cyber incident and are aware that Cambridgeshire Police has contacted a very small group of Clarion residents in their constabulary in relation to this matter.
“We have contacted Cambridgeshire Police to correct certain statements in their letter and are co-ordinating with them to provide an update, following further clarification, to those individuals they contacted shortly.
“Our investigation into this incident is ongoing, and if we identify a need to contact any of our residents, we will contact them directly.”
The landlord confirmed that the primary source of personal data it holds on residents is stored in its Customer Relationship Management system, which it said was not accessed.
In response, a spokesperson for Cambridgeshire Police said: “Following clarifications, we have established that Clarion has confirmed that its investigation has not found evidence that data was successfully taken from its systems. We will be re-engaging with the residents who received our original letter to update them.”
The National Crime Agency told Inside Housing that it is working with partners to support Clarion and mitigate any potential risks.
Inside Housing spoke to some residents in August who had concerns about their rent payments not going through and confusion over accounts showing tenants in arrears.
Some were concerned about home sales potentially falling through. While others criticised Clarion’s communication about the attack and said that their mental health had deteriorated because of the lack of clarity over whether their data had been stolen.
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