ST HELENS Council chiefs have issued an update on the cyber attack that it has been battling for more than three weeks.

Hackers targeted the council on Monday, August 21, hitting the local authority's network and systems.

The National Cyber Security Centre, National Crime Agency and Merseyside Police have all been investigating.

Today the council said it had moved to a recovery phase after working through the "investigation and containment stage".

St Helens Council has remained tight-lipped on the incident's impact but it is understood there has been an impact on some council services and day-to-day operations of staff.

Council's statement

In a statement from St Helens Borough Council, said:  "Over the past three weeks St Helens Borough Council has continued to deal with a cyber incident affecting the council’s IT systems and networks.

"We have been working with national agencies including the National Cyber Security Centre, National Crime Agency, Merseyside Police, and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, who have been supporting the work of our IT teams and cyber security contractors to investigate and protect our network.

"As part of this we have now worked through the investigation and containment stage and have moved into the recovery stage of this incident.

"This means that residents will start to see a number of council services gradually become available again on the council website over the coming days and weeks.

“Council staff have worked tirelessly during this incident, to investigate, contain and now commence recovery from this incident, as well as adapting how we have delivered services in order to limit the disruption experienced by our residents.

“Please be reassured that we are continuing to work hard to fully restore all our services, but please be patient while we ensure that we do this diligently and safely.”