Clarion warns of ‘long period of disruption’ as cyber attack impact drags on
Clarion is continuing to deal with the aftermath of a cyber attack that caused “extensive damage” to its IT systems and has warned that it is facing a “long period of disruption”.
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The UK’s largest housing association was affected by what it called a “cyber security incident” last month, which targeted its IT infrastructure.
In an update late last week, Clarion said: “As our work continues it is clear that the damage to our systems is extensive. This will result in a long period of disruption while we rebuild our infrastructure.”
However the G15 landlord, which operates around 125,000 homes and has 350,000 residents, said it is “confident” that its customer relationship management (CRM) system, which stores customer data, was not accessed.
But it added: “We are continuing the investigation into the extent to which data held in other repositories may have been impacted.”
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Clarion apologised to its residents for the disruption and said it will have to rebuild some systems completely.
“To do this in a safe and secure way takes time because of the complexity of the incident and our network,” the group said.
“We are prioritising those systems that will enable us to better support our residents.”
It added: “We’re sorry for how long people have experienced interruption to normal services. We wanted to have recovered more rapidly but the cyber incident has caused significant damage to our systems.”
Clarion advised that its residents can telephone if they need to book an emergency repair, but said if it is not an emergency, residents should not call.
Residents can still make contact via the group’s online live chat facility, Clarion said.
A number of other housing associations and councils have been hit by cyber attacks in the past few years, most notably 32,000-home Flagship, which faced severe disruption to its services after a major incident in 2020.
Meanwhile, ratings agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has warned that social housing providers are among those whose exposure to cyber risks has increased as a result of internal systems being increasingly digitalised amid the shift to remote working during the pandemic.
In a new report, the agency said that a lack of IT investment prior to 2020 had left organisations with “generally weak” cyber security infrastructure.
“We consider that management of social housing groups should have a comprehensive cyber strategy, including monitoring for breaches and system weaknesses,” the report added.
“Given housing providers’ high public profile, we also consider a comprehensive communication plan to be a crucial element of their cyber preparations.”
S&P said it can revise an association’s management score based on its “cyber risk preparedness”.
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