NCSC Come Off Bench To Help Manchester United

The British National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is assisting Manchester United with its recovery after a cyber attack, which has meant the football club has been unable to fully restore its computer systems. The NCSC has been advising United, with the club working to ensure the network is secure before switching it back on. In the meantime email is unavailable to staff along with some other operations.

 The Premier League club confirmed the hacking on November 20 and said it was not “aware of any breach of personal data associated with our fans and customers”, however,according to some newspaper reports Manchester United’s network has been affected by ransomware.

It said in a statement: “The club has taken swift actions to contain the attack and is currently working with expert advisors to investigate the incident and minimise the ongoing IT disruption... The club has extensive protocols and procedures in place for such an event and had rehearsed for this risk. Our cyber defences identified the attack and shut down affected systems to contain the damage and protect data.”

The club’s media channels, including its website and mobile app, were not affected, and nor is it currently aware of any breach of fan data it may hold although club staff still do not have access to email and some other functions are still not available.

Manchester United has said it would not comment on who was responsible for this attack or their motives."This attack was by nature disruptive, but we are not currently aware of any fan data being compromised. Critical systems required for matches to take place at the Old Trafford stadium remained secure and games have gone ahead as normal.”

Last week, United informed the Information Commissioner’s Office, as legally required, although they could yet face a fine from the data regulator if fan data is compromised as a result of the attack. On November 13, Ticketmaster was issued a £1.25 million fine for failing to keep its customers’ personal data secure in a 2018 attack.

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 attackers lock access to data until a ransom is paid, being deployed. 

The NCSC said it dealt with more than three times as many ransomware incidents compared with last year and noted that criminals were changing their approach during such attacks to increasingly threaten to leak information publicly unless payment is made. The NCSC’s report also revealed it had scanned more than one million IP addresses linked to the NHS for vulnerabilities as part of efforts to protect the health service. Out of 723 cyber incidents between September 2019 and the end of August this year handled by the agency, 194 were directly linked to the coronavirus pandemic.

The NCSC noted that criminals were changing their approach during such attacks to increasingly threaten to leak information publicly unless payment is made.

NCSC:      Sky Sports:       Peebleshire News:     Guardian:    Computer Weekly:

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