Probe into how gambling ad hacked council website

An investigation is taking place into how a parish council's website was hacked to promote gambling with an image of a scantily-clad woman.

Old Catton Parish Council, which represents a village near Norwich, said it had become aware of the problem on Monday morning.

Its contact page was replaced with one written in Indonesian which appeared to make reference to online slot machine games.

A spokeswoman for the council said it had since replaced the page with the original and had reviewed its security measures.

"The issue was addressed immediately upon discovery and the affected content was removed," she added.

It has not been established how the material found its way onto the website, but investigations are ongoing, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

There are growing concerns about potential cyber attacks on local authorities.

Earlier this year, Norfolk County Council officials said ransomware – software used by criminals to access computer data from victims – posed the highest risk to security.

It comes after hundreds of small councils moved to the .gov.uk domain last year to improve their security.

The government launched a new service at the start of 2025 to encourage parishes to make the switch over.

The National Association of Local Councils website adds: "Using .gov.uk email addresses further protects communities by reducing the risk of phishing.

"Criminals cannot create .gov.uk email accounts, meaning residents can trust communications from their council."

However, Old Catton Parish Council's website is not one of those as it ends with .co.uk.

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