Islamophobic ‘cyber vandalism’ at UK rail stations traced to ISP professional
19 sites were targeted, with xenophobic messages delivered to passengers trying to log-on to open networks at major transport hubs.
Edinburgh Waverley, Glasgow Central, Manchester Piccadilly, Liverpool Lime Street, Leeds, Birmingham New Street, Reading, Guildford, Bristol Temple Meads and a further 10 London stations were all targeted. These included Charing Cross, Cannon Street, Clapham Junction, Euston, King’s Cross, Liverpool Street, London Bridge, Paddington, Victoria and Waterloo.
On Friday 27th September, British Transport Police confirmed they had arrested a man in connection with the incident under the Computer Misuse Act 1990 and Malicious Communications Act 1988. Although the suspect has not been identified, it has been confirmed that he is employed by GlobalReach Technology, a firm which delivers WiFi services to Network Rail facilities, through its digital services partner, Telnet.
This is now the second major cyber incident to hit the UK rail network in a single month. On 1st September, Transport for London [TfL] was targeted in an attack that saw 5,000 people’s personal data compromised, although no specific losses were recorded as a result. A 17-year-old male from Leicester has been apprehended,
‘Officers received reports of a breach of some Network Rail WiFi services at railway stations which were displaying Islamophobic messaging,’ said a spokesperson for British Transport Police. ‘The abuse of access was restricted to the defacement of the splash pages, and no personal data is known to have been affected.’
‘Telent can confirm that the incident was an act of cyber vandalism which originated from within the Global Reach network and was not a result of a network security breach or a technical failure,’ added a spokesperson for the firm.
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Image: Umair Dingmar
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