Emails blocked at Welsh Council

A lockdown was introduced by the Powys County Council's email supplier NHS Wales Informatics Service (NWIS) as a precaution following the security breach.

The block was lifted on Thursday, with residents being urged to resend any electronic communication sent between Thursday 11 and Thurday 18 May.

A spokesman for the council said: "The precautionary block on external emails to @powys.gov.uk addresses has now been lifted and people outside the network are now able to contact the council via email once more.”

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Job applications by email which had closing dates during the period have seen their deadlines extended. Online job applications were not affected.

In addition, applications to vote by post or proxy were affected by the block, with the authority creating a form allowing people to apply for postal votes online.

The spokesman said: "We realise that the disruption caused inconvenience to our residents and partners and we apologise for this. However, it was important that our computer systems remained safe. The council continues to remain vigilant as similar attacks could be made in the future.”

Meanwhile, computer experts say that North Korea may have been behind the attack.

According to a report in The Independent, technical evidence could link the attack with the Lazarus Group, which was thought to be behind last year's $81m (£62m) raid on the Bangladesh Central Bank and a 2014 hack of Sony's Hollywood studios.