"I can't believe it. I was shocked," she said.

Mr Street added: "Once again it’s citizens picking up the pieces. Innocent taxpayers set to fork out a lot more for a lot less."It’s so wrong that so many have been put in this position through no fault of their own."

Commissioners, led by Max Caller,to help run the council as a result of the financial challenges.Referencing the government loan in a

, the commissioners said: “For the avoidance of doubt [the financial support] is really nothing more than a loan from government that must be paid back through asset sales.“There are conditions for this loan that mirror the concerns raised above around savings delivery.”

Those concerns relate to “major improvements” that need to be made at the council in order to deliver planned savings.

The commissioners clarified there was a need to ensure the council recruited, retained and invested in people with the right skills and knowledge to undertake the required work.Trump's incoming national security adviser Mike Waltz has said that foreign hackers must face "higher costs and consequences".

Mr Forno, of the UMBC Cybersecurity Institute, said the hacks were probably years in the making."China traditionally takes a very long and strategic view of how they conduct their espionage and intelligence operations," he said. "The US tends to be much more reactive and much more interested in immediate and visible results."

China's foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a news briefing that the accusations were "baseless" and "lacking evidence"."China consistently opposes all forms of hacking and firmly rejects the dissemination of false information targeting China for political purposes," Mao said.