L&Q, one of the UK’s most significant housing associations, is working to restore online services for residents after a cyber-attack which saw webforms and emails from around 12,000 residents accessed by the perpetrators.
It has notified the Information Commissioner’s Office and the Regulator of Social Housing.
London & Quadrant (L&Q) reassured residents that their wider operating systems, including residents’ personal details, data about homes and tenancies, and information relating to suppliers and partners, remained secure throughout the incident.
Those directly affected by the breach received an email from the housing association and the website remained unavailable for a large part of Monday, with residents advised to email or phone the provider instead of using the online services.
Fiona Fletcher-Smith, chief executive at L&Q, said: “As soon as we detected the issue, our information security team took immediate steps to isolate and secure our website, and we are now carrying out a comprehensive investigation to understand how this happened, and ensure we can restore the site safely and securely as soon as possible.”
“The incident resulted in emails and webforms sent to us by approximately 12,000 residents being accessed without authorisation. Our investigation so far indicates that the incident is limited to the online contact made by these residents.”
An RSH spokesperson confirmed the Regulator had been notified about the data breach: “The Regulator of Social Housing was notified of the issue by L&Q and we continue to engage with them as they respond to the incident and address its implications.”
