Published: 29 April 2026
Hutt City Council is alerting the community to a malicious phishing attack that happened last month, acknowledging the concern and distress this may have caused.
As a result of the March 2026 phishing attack, it was determined that five individuals had identity information compromised, and 732 people may have had financial information exposed through email correspondence. This is deeply regrettable.
Council has contacted all affected individuals directly, and shared steps to be taken in response.
Chief Executive Jo Miller says that the incident has been reported to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, and that Hutt City Council takes the protection of personal information seriously and has acted to address this incident.
“We are sorry this has occurred and acknowledge the concern it may have caused. It’s a reminder to us of the need to handle data with sufficient care. We want to reassure the community that additional safeguards have been put in place and system security strengthened.
"We have brought forward our work programme that includes further mitigations to protect council information and prevent any further attack of this nature.”
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