The London cyber attack goes from bad to worse
Plus: Swiftmania, a politico caught in the bushes, and a quantum compass on the Tube
Morning — there was already plenty of alarm about the cyber attack on London hospitals earlier this month, but a series of Telegram messages quietly sent on Wednesday evening have taken things to the next level. This week Russian hackers dumped millions of private patient records online, with cyber security experts now racing to establish what exactly has been compromised — and to what ends the data could be used for. The latest developments in the capital’s hospital cyber attack leads your Sunday round-up below.
Plus: Swiftmania, a politico caught in the bushes, and a quantum compass on the Tube.
In case you missed it: on Thursday we published a piece by Lateefah Jean-Baptiste, looking at the harsh realities of having a baby in London these days. Lateefah explores the inevitability of Londoners moving away from the city — to the suburbs or beyond — if they want a family. Struggle awaits those who decide to stay, as Lateefah’s conversation with one London mother shows:
Mary says what hurts the most is that her eldest son, aged six, is aware of their financial struggles. "We walked past a Smyths toy shop, and he asked if we could go in just to play with the toys because he knows we're poor. It broke my heart. We even get nervous about birthday party invitations because we have to ensure we can afford a gift. My father-in-law has cancer and we once had to say he was having a bad day to avoid attending a party because we couldn't afford it."
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What we’ve spied
🏥 Late on Wednesday evening, the recent cyber attack on London hospitals went from bad to worse: hackers published more than 350GB of stolen data online. The data breach has added a potential privacy scandal to the long list of problems facing NHS London, which was already scrambling to deal with cancelled operations and a lack of IT at several hospitals in the capital hit by the ransomware attack a fortnight ago. Cybersecurity experts have so far assessed that the leaked data covers more than 300m patient interactions with the NHS, including the results of blood tests for HIV and cancer, but it’s unclear at this stage if the data only involves hospitals at the affected NHS trusts — King’s College and Guy’s and St Thomas’ — or is more widespread. NHS London has set up a hotline for those concerned their data might have been compromised by the attack, which was directed at a contractor, Synnovis, that provided pathology services across south-east London, including for GPs. There are fears the data could now be used to commit fraudulent activity, like luring people into scams.
The release of the private data suggests Synnovis did not cough up a reported £40m ransom demanded by the hacking group, Qilin, which had crashed IT systems pending payment. Just before releasing the data, a spokesperson for Qilin gave an interview to tech site The Register, claiming the group had intentionally targeted the hospitals and has “no regrets” about the resulting disruption. Meanwhile, NHS London have put out numbers revealing the damage caused by the attack — 1,134 cancelled operations and 2,194 outpatient appointments — as hospital staff find themselves locked out of the digital systems they use for blood work. The BBC reports a 14-year-old boy with cancer was among the hundreds facing delays to treatments. We reported earlier in June that the affected London hospitals were preparing for at least a month of disruption, but this timeline has now grown to “many months” according to some sources.
🎤 Swiftmania reached fever pitch in London this week, ahead of the pop star bringing her Eras Tour to Wembley on Friday. Leading the hype train has been TfL, which unveiled the Tube Map (Taylor’s Version), featuring lines and stations renamed to references to Swift’s discography. Meanwhile, mayor Sadiq Khan has been filming himself meeting Swifties around Wembley, proudly boasting to the camera in front of a giant Swift mural that her eight nights of performances in London are “proof that our music scene never goes out of style”. The fawning is unsurprising, in light of the huge £300m boost to London’s economy that Swift and 700,000 attendees are expected to bring. A big pay day already for her favourite kebab shop in Kentish Town — Swift and her team have reportedly spent £100 pre-ordering chicken kebabs from Kentish Delight. Fans queued overnight for Friday’s opener, then both Prince William and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer were snapped at the concert. For what it’s worth — Shelter Scotland warned that the influx of Swift fans to Edinburgh earlier this year and a shortage of accommodation meant several homeless people had been moved out of the city. It’s similar to what happened to several homeless families who were moved out of hotels in north London for a Beyoncé tour last year. The Spy asked Shelter if they had similar concerns about her three London concerts this month then the further five in August, but we never heard back, though we’ll keep chasing. Anyway, if you’re more of a brat than a Swiftie, here’s Charli xcx launching her new album at Dalston Superstore earlier this month.
🗳 LONDON VOTES 🗳️ Here’s what to know about the general election in London this week:
A prominent figure in Islington Labour has quit the party after being caught hiding behind a bush while campaigning for Jeremy Corbyn. Alison McGarry, the chair of Labour Islington North and member for 50 years, was spotted on Wednesday door knocking to support the former Labour leader’s independent run against the party, before reportedly hiding behind a bush. She resigned on Wednesday evening.
The Conservatives have slightly improved their polling position in London, but still face a wipeout. YouGov’s latest seat-by-seat forecast, published on Wednesday, suggests the party is expected to win six of London’s 73 constituencies. That’s two more than YouGov’s forecast of four conducted at the start of June, though still massively down on the 21 the party currently represents. The latest forecast finds three Tory seats are falling to the Lib Dems, including Wimbledon, while the rest will be taken by Labour, including seats like Uxbridge & South Ruislip and Chelsea & Fulham.
A surprise backer for Faiza Shaheen’s independent campaign in Chingford & Woodford Green: world snooker champ Ronnie O’Sullivan. Shaheen, who was deselected as Labour’s candidate in the north east London seat, posted a video to her X/Twitter hanging out in a kitchen with O’Sullivan. He explained: “I think it’s really important we have a local person as our MP, someone who knows this community, someone who has roots here and wants the best for us. And I think Faiza is that person.”
👮 Former detectives who oversaw the initial investigation into Stephen Lawrence’s murder will not face charges, a review has concluded, prompting anger from his mother. The review was initiated by Lawrence’s parents, when last July the Crown Prosecution Service decided against charging four Met Police detectives with misconduct over failings in the investigation into the 1993 murder of Lawrence by a gang of racist attackers in south east London. This initial investigation failed to bring anyone to justice, and it took until 2012 for two men to be convicted, though it’s believed other attackers escaped justice. Reacting to the original CPS decision being upheld on Tuesday, Doreen Lawrence, Stephen’s mother, described the ruling as “a new low” and said she was “bewildered, disappointed, and angry”. Elsewhere for London’s finest: the Met has come under scrutiny for failing to deal with a “toxic culture” within its firearms unit.
🏗️ PLANNING CORNER 🏗
A landlord has unveiled a £800m redevelopment plan of 1,800 homes in east London. Hill Group submitted its plans for the regeneration of the Teviot Estate in Poplar this week, with the promise of 35% affordable homes delivered over four phases. The redevelopment also includes new shops, commercial spaces, as well as a new pontoon on the Limehouse Canal Cut designed to increase community access to water sports.
A community of nuns in south London have proposed changing their convent into flats. Sisters of the Holy Family Convent have submitted plans to Lambeth council to turn their five-storey terraced property in Stockwell into five flats for key workers like nurses and teachers. The building has sat empty for a while, as the religious community’s numbers dwindle.
A 120-year-old west London Tube station has had repair plans approved — including partly repainting it the correct colour. Under TfL plans approved by Hammersmith & Fulham council, the platforms at Barons Court, which serves the District and Piccadilly lines, will be getting a lick of green paint, correcting a 25-year-old mistake painting them maroon and terracotta. The plans also include general repairs and refurbishments, like replacing the timber in the station’s canopy and strengthening columns.
Black cabs might be returning to Bank Junction after the City of London Corporation voted to lift restrictions for a trial period. Taxis were banned from what is one of the busiest junctions in London in 2017 following 100 injuries and the death of a cyclist in 2015, which led to the junction being limited to buses and bikes only. The lifting of the ban could come into effect spring 2025, subject to approval by TfL.
⚖️ Rape victims in London are now being offered free legal advice, through a pilot scheme launched by the mayor. Sadiq Khan announced the start of the trial on Tuesday, which will run for a year in Hackney and Tower Hamlets and is being funded by City Hall. Victims will be referred by the Met Police to independent sexual violence advisers based at the London Survivors Gateway. The University of Loughborough will assess the trial and present interim findings in early 2025.
📣 Students at the London School of Economics have ended their pro-Palestine encampment after losing a legal battle. The encampment had been in place on the ground floor of LSE’s Marshall Building in Holborn for the past month, calling for the university to divest from companies involved in the conflict in Gaza, but LSE administrators have now won a court order requiring the students to leave. A similar order is currently being sought by Queen Mary University of London to disperse an encampment on its East End campus. In neither case have students succeeded in their divestment demands. Meanwhile, Hackney’s borough mayor has met with pro-Palestine demonstrators who are camped outside the town hall, and has now publicly said she supports “ethical divestment”. No action has officially been taken by the council, though.
🔍 And finally we leave you with: