Council website hijacked by computer hackers

Aberdeen City Council has called in the police after its website was hacked last weekend apparently by a group based in Algeria.

A council statement said: “We are aware of a security issue which affected the homepage of our website this evening (28 January) between 19.20 and 10pm and are working urgently to investigate the incident. The website is currently back online and we would like to assure residents that no personal data is held on the Aberdeen City Council website.”

The council said residents’ financial details were not compromised, but declined to elaborate pending completion of the police investigation.

Hackers replaced the home page with one blank apart from a silhouette of a man in a stetson hat with the words “security stupidity”.

The hack was signed by Team System DZ, an organisation reported locally to be based in Algeria. ‘DZ’ is the country’s international internet code.