The Housing Ombudsman Service said a third-party IT security incident hit its case management system. BleepingComputer reported it happened on Tuesday. The service said people cannot submit a new complaint, view an existing one, or use web chat or the webform. It asked them to email or phone instead. The service has told the Information Commission.
The service said the incident has been contained. It is working with an external supplier to establish the full facts, including how much data was involved. It is still checking whether any personal information was affected. The sources do not say what caused the incident, who the supplier is, or when services will return. The service advised people to be careful with unexpected messages.
A case management system records and tracks each complaint. Four routes failed together: new complaints, viewing complaints, web chat and the webform. That pattern suggests they share one system, though the sources do not say so. Email and phone were the only fallback named. Buyers can ask their suppliers three things: what is the manual fallback, how will we be told of an incident, and what data does the vendor hold?