Update 11:54 am: DIGIT can now confirm that Police Scotland has been involved and it is an active case, with further updates to be provided later today, a spokesperson revealed.

Last night, the Western Isles Council, or Comhairle nan Eilean, website went down due to an ongoing incident which disrupted its IT system.

The incident is now being reported as a potential ransomware attack on the Western Isles Council system, though this has yet to be confirmed by the Council itself.

Further, while the Council has confirmed to DIGIT that they have involved Police Scotland, the BCC has reported that Dell, the computer company, has also been engaged to help the Council in the ongoing situation.

“The comment I can provide is that we are engaging with Scottish government and police Scotland and taking preventative advice. Our priority continues to be to restore and secure data,” a spokesperson said, though DIGIT is expecting further updates.

As 6:31 pm, the Western Isles Council posted on X that their IT system had “been affected by an incident which has caused significant disruption.”

The Western Isles Council represents the Na h-Eileanan an Iar constituency which was formerly known as the Western Isles, and consists of the Outer Hebrides, a set of Scottish Isles including Lewis and Harris, North Uist, Benbecula, South Uist, and Barra.

Disruption to Comhairle IT System

Access to Comhairle nan Eilean Siar’s IT system has been affected by an incident which has caused significant disruption.

— Comhairle nan Eilean (@cne_siar) November 7, 2023

Currently, the council has yet to disclose what has caused the disruption, and it remains to be seen if it was an internal IT system error or caused by external threats.

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“The current priority is to restore and secure data and ensure the continued delivery of services to those in our communities who need them most. Work is underway to redirect public phone numbers which will allow key services to be contacted,” the X post thread continued.

The Council also confirmed that it engaged the Scottish Government and “professional advice” to “establish the root cause of the incident and identify necessary actions.

DIGIT reached out to the Western Isles Council for comment on the incident and is currently waiting to hear back.

William Wright, CEO of Closed Door Security, a cybersecurity company in the Western Isles, said: “The council’s website is currently down, and only vague information is available into what has happened, but this does look like a ransomware attack from the outside. Being so close to home, we’re on hand to help the council should they require it.

“The incident highlights that all organisations are a target for criminals, even councils in remote locations in Scotland. They don’t always go after the biggest organisations; small and relatively unknown organisations are just as lucrative, and they often don’t benefit from big security budgets to keep determined attackers out of their networks. This is reminiscent of the SEPA ransomware attack and could potentially have a similar timeline, bringing many vital services to a standstill for a prolonged period of time.

“The incident is another reminder of the importance of proactive defences against ransomware – reaction is not the goal.

“When it comes to defences, organisations must focus on a layered strategy, which includes running proactive security assessments to find and close exploitable bugs, training employees on attack techniques, and having the ability to segment the network, so even when unauthorised intruders do break in, they can’t travel.”

Jude McCorry, CEO of Cyber and Fraud Centre- Scotland, said: “Data breaches can be caused by many factors, and one of the most common causes is cyber attack. This impacts organisations large and small, as well as affecting individuals. If any organisations in Scotland need support to mitigate the impacts of an attack, our free Incident Response helpline is available on 0800 167 0623. ”

This is a developing story.