The British media has sounded an alarm about the fact that Russian hackers have penetrated the computer systems of the UK Ministry of Defence, stealing sensitive data about military personnel and other information from the databases of the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy, reports Kyiv Post.
Approximately 272,000 service members could be affected. More precisely, according to Mail on Sunday, cyber criminals hacked the files of a maintenance and construction contractor, Dodd Group, gaining temporary access to its central server through a ransomware.
“We can confirm that Dodd Group was recently the victim of a ransomware incident, as a result of which an unauthorized third party gained temporary access to some of our internal systems,” a spokesperson for Dodd Group stated.“While our forensic investigation is ongoing, we are aware of claims that data taken from our systems has been published online.”
The London press reported that the personal data of military personnel and veterans (names, bank details, and some addresses from the payroll system) have been compromised. The British Ministry of Defence stated that it is investigating the incident.
“We are actively investigating claims that information relating to the Ministry of Defence has been published on the Dark Web,” a spokesperson for the ministry stated. “To protect sensitive operational information, we will not make further comments on the details.”
The Daily Mail mentioned that the illegally obtained documents contain, according to some sources, information about a number of sensitive bases, including RAF Lakenheath, where the new generation F-35 aircraft of the US Air Force are stationed.