Property deals in Scotland have been hit by a cyber security issue at the country’s insolvency service.

Any transaction requiring a search via the Register of Insolvencies was affected by the IT failure that lasted four working days, throwing many property deals into doubt.

Accountant in Bankruptcy, which runs the register, suspended its search service while it dealt with the issue.

Frustrated

But agents and conveyancers trying to get deals over the line before Christmas were left frustrated by the outage.

A temporary fix had been introduced by the fourth day of problems on Monday, and then a full service resumed yesterday.

Accountant in Bankruptcy said: “The Scottish Register of Insolvencies is now available, and normal service has been restored successfully.

“We would like to reassure users that, following a thorough investigation, we are satisfied that no data has been exfiltrated and our network has not been compromised.

“We apologise for the inconvenience this issue has caused.”

The timing of this outage is particularly unfortunate.”

Diane McGiffen, CEO at the Law Society of Scotland, said before the problem was resolved: “The timing of this outage is particularly unfortunate for people trying to finalise property transactions before Christmas.

“A number of solicitors have been in contact with us seeking advice on this issue. We’re advising them to contact all clients who have upcoming settlements as soon as possible to let them know about the potential impact.”

Read more about search delays.