GREATER Manchester Police is believed to have been the victim of a huge hack with the details of thousands of officers stolen.
It’s thought the hack was aimed at a company the force contracted to produce its warrant cards.
Officers and staff are said to have been informed about the hack yesterday.
The hack is understood to concern thousands of warrant cards which contain the names and pictures of police officers, the Manchester Evening News reports.
In an announcement in March, the GMP said it employed more than 8,000 cops.
ACC Colin McFarlane of Greater Manchester Police (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.
“We understand how concerning this is for our employees so, as we work to understand any impact on GMP, we have contacted the Information Commissioners Office and are doing everything we can to ensure employees are kept informed, their questions are answered, and they feel supported.
“This is being treated extremely seriously, with a nationally led criminal investigation into the attack.”
Last month, officers and staff at the Met Police were hacked in a massive security breach.
All 47,000 personnel were warned of the risk their photos, names and ranks had been stolen when cyber crooks penetrated the IT systems of a contractor printing warrant cards and staff passes.
Counter-terrorism cops and officers assigned to guard the Royal Family were also exposed.
Earlier in August, it emerged that the data of 10,000 Northern Ireland police personnel was mistakenly disclosed.
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