The Times on Monday reported that Capita PLC is facing a ‘deepening hack crisis’, with bank accounts and phone numbers leaked online after a cyber attack.

Capita shares were 9.2% lower at 33.86 pence on Monday afternoon in London.

At the start of April, outsourcing company Capita said it suffered a cyberattack, though it noted it has seen no evidence of customer data being affected.

At the time, it said the incident impacted its access to Microsoft Office 365 applications. This meant services to some customers were disrupted, ‘though the majority of our client services remained in operation’.

‘Our IT security monitoring capabilities swiftly alerted us to the incident, and we quickly invoked our established and practised technical crisis management protocols. Immediate steps were taken to successfully isolate and contain the issue. The issue was limited to parts of the Capita network and there is no evidence of customer, supplier or colleague data having been compromised,’ Capita said.

However, on Monday, the Times reported that the company is facing a ‘deepening hack crisis.’

‘The attack by Russian cybercriminals of one of the UK’s biggest outsourcing companies, Capita, appears far more serious than the company has admitted. Personal bank account details, addresses and passport photos are now being leaked online, having apparently been stolen by the hacking group Black Basta,’ the Times reported.

The Times said that Capita, which has £6.5 million in government contracts, handles the personal details of millions of members of the public.

‘This trove of information features people’s phone numbers, details of more than 100 bank accounts with sort codes, and home addresses. The documents appear to be a sample of what was have obtained, as the web page states that anyone wanting access to more can buy it in bitcoin. The link to purchase more data on the portal is currently not working when clicked,’ the Times continued.

The Times then went onto say that the Sunday Times contacted people whose details were leaked and they were ‘unaware.’ It noted that Capita would generally be obliged to inform people whose details have been obtained by hackers.

‘It is believed that the breach was caused by a phishing scam, when employees receive seemingly legitimate emails that encourage them to click on malicious links, allowing hackers to seize their data,’ the Times said.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/capita-faces-deepening-hack-crisis-bstqkjcqq

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