Cyber team helping Manchester United after its computers are hit
THE UK’S cyber- security agency is helping Manchester United, which has been unable to fully restore its IT systems after a computer attack earlier this month.
The Premier League side confirmed the hacking on November 20 and said it was not “aware of any breach of personal data associated with our fans and customers”.
As of Thursday night, club staff still did not have access to email and some other functions were also unavailable.
The National Cyber Security Centre ( NCSC) is now assisting the team.
A spokesperson said: “The NCSC is aware of an incident affecting Manchester United Football Club and we are working with the organisation and partners to understand its impact.” The Premier League side said it was not currently aware of any fan data being affected.
In a statement, United said: “Following the recent cyber attack on the club, our IT team and external experts secured our networks and have conducted forensic investigations.”
The club said it would not comment on who was responsible for the attack or the motives.
The statement continued: “This attack was by nature disruptive but we are not currently aware of any fan data being compromised.”
Last week United informed the Information Commissioner’s Office, as required.
They could face a fine from the data regulator if fan data is compromised as a result of the cyber attack. On November 13, Ticketmaster was handed a £ 1.25m penalty for failing to keep customers’ personal data secure in a 2018 attack.
Earlier this month, the NCSC’s annual review showed the organisation defended the UK from more than 700 cyber attacks over the last year.
It noted a rise in the number of ransomware attacks – where hackers lock access to data until a ransom is paid.
The NCSC said it dealt with more than three times as many ransomware incidents compared with last year.
It warned that criminals were changing their approach during such attacks to increasingly threaten to leak information publicly unless a payment was made.