Defective block homeowners warned their data may have been accessed in a cyberattack

The Irish government's Housing Agency has warned that a cyberattack on one of its engineering consultant companies may have potentially exposed the personal information of defective block homeowners.

The breach involves an engineering consultant firm, Jennings O'Donovan, which assesses defective block grant scheme applications. According to the Housing Agency, the attack had been "isolated to one engineering company,” although the exact scale of it is yet to be clarified.

Attackers managed to hack into “a limited part of [its] IT system", and Jennings O'Donovan claims that personal financial/banking information was stored securely on systems that haven’t been affected. The incident did not involve the Housing Agency’s own systems.

Despite that, the agency said that malicious actors could’ve accessed some personal data of owners, including addresses, personal contact details, and photos of affected homes. These could be used for targeted phishing or social engineering attacks.

Chartered engineers use technical reports and personal data provided by the applicant in an application to a local authority for contact purposes.

The Housing Agency has since started to notify affected homeowners. Those who haven’t been notified can safely understand that they were not impacted by the incident.

It’s also working with Jennings O’Donovan to understand as much information as possible about the incident, and with the Data Protection Officer to take the necessary steps.

“No material delays to applications are expected to result from this cyber incident,” the agency says.

The Housing Agency aims to deliver “sustainable and affordable housing for all”, working on informing and delivering housing policy.