Newcastle-based transport company Go-Ahead Group has announced that it has fallen victim to a cyber attack.
The company, which runs Go North East buses, has said that it is "managing a cyber security incident" after "unauthorised activity was detected on its network on Monday. A spokesperson for Go-Ahead said there was "no indication that any customer data has been compromised."
As well as the service Go-Ahead runs in our region, it is the largest bus operator in London, and also runs services elsewhere in England, including East Anglia and the South. Go-Ahead also runs train operator Govia Thameslink Railway in the capital, a joint venture with Keolis, but said that this was unaffected as it runs on a different system.
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The company's statement read: "Upon becoming aware of the incident, Go-Ahead immediately engaged external forensic specialists and has taken precautionary measures with its IT infrastructure whilst it continues to investigate the nature and extent of the incident and implement its incident response plans. Go-Ahead will continue to assess the potential impact of the incident but confirms that there is no impact on UK or international rail services which are operating normally."
It added that it has notified the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) "as a precaution." In 2018, British Airways was fined £20 million by the ICO over a data hack.
Investigators found that the airline should have identified the security weaknesses which enabled the attack to take place, with BA failing to protect the personal and financial details of more than 400,000 customers.
Ferrovie dello Stato, the Italian state railway company, temporarily suspended some tickets sales in March after discovering signs of a cyber attack.
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