September 14th 2023.
Greater Manchester Police have confirmed that the details of thousands of its officers have been hacked in a cyber-attack. It appears that a third-party supplier in Stockport was targeted, which holds information on various UK organisations, including GMP. The attack is similar to one that affected the Metropolitan Police last month.
The warrant cards and ID cards that were hacked contained a photograph of the person, their name, collar number and rank or status. According to an email sent to GMP staff, a ransomware attack was responsible for the data breach, and the details of thousands of staff have been exposed. This includes data from GMP and other public sector organisations across the UK.
Investigators have established that data from the cards - including names, ranks, photographs and serial numbers - may have been accessed. ACC Colin McFarlane of GMP said: “We are aware of a ransomware attack affecting a third-party supplier of various UK organisations, including GMP, which holds some information on those employed by GMP. At this stage, it’s not believed this data includes financial information.”
McFarlane went on to say that GMP was taking the incident extremely seriously and has contacted the Information Commissioners Office, as well as doing their best to ensure affected staff are kept informed, their questions are answered and they feel supported. A nationally-led criminal investigation into the attack is also underway.
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