Man arrested following UK-wide cyber-attack

A man has been arrested following an investigation into an alleged cyber-attack, which hit several train stations across the UK.

Earlier this week, a cyber incident affected a public Wi-Fi network across 19 UK railway stations, including Edinburgh Waverley and Glasgow Central. The attack meant passengers were met with a screen displaying Islamophobic messages about terror attacks in Europe when trying to log into the network.

The British Transport Police (BTP) has now confirmed that a man has been arrested on suspicion of offences under the Computer Misuse Act 1990 and the Malicious Communications Act 1988.

The statement from BTP continued: “Officers received reports of a breach of some Network Rail Wi-Fi services at railway stations which were displaying Islamophobic messaging. The abuse of access was restricted to the defacement of the splash pages, and no personal data is known to have been affected.”

This is the second major hack to hit the UK transport industry in less than a month.

On 1 September, Transport for London (TfL) suffered a cyber-attack, during which the personal data of 5,000 customers was compromised.

However, TfL has said it is not aware of any customers who have suffered any losses due to the breach.

Two weeks ago, a 17-year-old boy from Leicester was arrested in connection to the attack, but TfL’s chief technology officer TfL Shashi Verma said that “the situation continues to evolve”.