A COUNCIL website has come back online after being down for nearly two weeks following a cyber-attack.

Redcar and Cleveland website back online with limited functionality.

The stripped back site allows people to find information on council tax, benefits, bin collections.

Residents can now long in to council tax accounts, claim housing benefits and seek benefits support, while landlords can access a portal too.

However, information on bin collections, tip permits and bulky waste collections is limited, with bins being emptied as normal, and the latter two on hold

The Northern Echo understands the council is gradually adding functionality to the site, which has been up and running again since Wednesday.

Council leader Mary Lanigan told BBC Radio Tees it could be "more that a few weeks" before systems are restored but that there is progress.

Still focusing on "frontline services", adult and children social care resources should be soon added.

The attack on Redcar and Cleveland Council took place at 11am on Saturday, February 8.

A council spokesperson said: "We continue to work with the relevant authorities to restore our IT services."

They are still unable to comment further on the nature of the attack due to the ongoing investigation by the National Crime Agency.

The council employ over 2,000 staff in multiple building across the area.

A greater number of employees have access to the internet, emails and contact information each day.

The council also seem to be updating social media more, reflecting the progress they’re making behind the scenes.

Around 135,000 residents struggled for over a week and a half to access services, check bin collection days, pay council tax or report problems after systems were brought down in the cyber-attack.

But with some functionalities restored, people no longer have to rely on social media for updates.

Ian Gemski, Founder and Director of Sedgefield-based cybersecurity firm Tekgem, previously told The Northern Echo cyber-attacks can be “very serious and devastating”.

Until Wednesday, visitors of the site saw an error message stating it is "temporarily unavailable due to being overloaded or under maintenance", urging them to “please try later”.

Mr Gemski explained these types of attacks are not targeted but instead are as a result of automated bots that crawl the internet looking for vulnerabilities.

The attack is believed to have be ransomware, which scrambles files until a ransom is paid.