Wifi networks at a number of train stations across the UK have been suspended after a “cybersecurity incident”.
Nineteen stations including London Euston, Manchester Piccadilly and Birmingham New Street had their wifi services suspended on Wednesday night after the incident. They were still down on Thursday morning.
The Manchester Evening News reported that passengers accessing the wifi at Piccadilly station were directed to a webpage titled “we love you, Europe”, which contained Islamophobic messages and details of several terrorist attacks that have taken place in the UK and in Europe.
A Network Rail spokesperson said: “We are currently dealing with a cybersecurity incident affecting the public wifi at Network Rail’s managed stations. This service is provided via a third party and has been suspended while an investigation is under way.”
A British Transport Police spokesperson said: ‘We are aware of a cyber-attack that affected some Network Rail wifi services, reported to us at around 5.03pm today (25 September). We are working with Network Rail to investigate the incident.”
Telent, the company that provides wifi services for Network Rail, confirmed to the BBC it was aware of the “security incident” and was “investigating with Network Rail and other stakeholders”.
In London, 10 big train stations have been affected: King’s Cross, London Bridge, Euston, Victoria, Cannon Street, Charing Cross, Liverpool Street, Clapham Junction, Waterloo and Paddington.
Manchester Piccadilly, Liverpool Lime Street, Birmingham New Street, Glasgow Central, Leeds City, Bristol Temple Meads, Edinburgh Waverley, Reading and Guildford stations were also affected.
Earlier this month, Transport for London was hit by a cyber-attack that potentially breached thousands of customers’ details.
While TfL services ran as normal and were not directly affected, the company restricted access to live travel data that served travel apps such as Citymapper and TfL Go, and some other customer services including journey history and photocard registration as it dealt with the breach.
A teenager from Walsall has been arrested in connection with the TfL hack.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) said a 17-year-old male was detained on suspicion of offences under the Computer Misuse Act 1990, in relation to the attack launched on TfL’s systems on 1 September. The teenager was arrested last week and released on bail after questioning by NCA officers.
TfL said it was contacting about 5,000 customers as a precaution to warn that their email and bank account details could have been accessed. It is understood to relate to those who had applied for refunds on journeys made using Oyster cards.
On Monday, a TfL spokesperson said there was no date set for when passenger journey and live travel data would be accessible again. They added: “We can assure customers that once it is available they will be able to see their full journey history and correct any incomplete journeys or maximum fares.”