A man has been arrested on suspicion of involvement in a cyberattack that affected Wi-Fi services at several UK railway stations, where Islamophobic messages were displayed to passengers
attempting to connect to public Wi-Fi networks.
The British Transport Police (BTP) confirmed that the suspect is an employee of Global Reach Technology, a company responsible for providing Wi-Fi services to Network Rail. The individual is suspected of abusing their access to some Network Rail Wi-Fi systems.
The arrest was made under the Computer Misuse Act 1990 and the Malicious Communications Act 1988, although further details about the suspect have not been disclosed.
Offensive Content Linked to Terror Attack
The incident occurred around 5:00 PM BST on Wednesday, September 25. The hack targeted major railway stations managed by Network Rail, including London Euston, Manchester Piccadilly, and Liverpool Lime Street. Passengers attempting to connect to the stations’ public Wi-Fi were redirected to a webpage displaying offensive content, referencing a past UK terror attack.
Telecommunications company Telent, which operates the affected Wi-Fi systems, stated that the breach involved an unauthorized change to the landing page via a legitimate administrator account. In response, Network Rail swiftly suspended its Wi-Fi services nationwide while the issue was being addressed.
The BTP stressed that the misuse was limited to altering the "splash pages" of the Wi-Fi service, and no personal data appears to have been compromised. Network Rail expects Wi-Fi services at the stations to be restored by the weekend.
Broader Cybersecurity Concerns
This incident follows a separate cyberattack on Transport for London (TfL) earlier in September 2024. In that case, personal data from approximately 5,000 customers, including some bank account details, was accessed by attackers.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) arrested a 17-year-old male on September 5 in connection with the TfL attack under the Computer Misuse Act. These recent events have raised concerns about the security of public transportation networks and the handling of sensitive customer information. Photo by RRZEicons, Wikimedia commons.