UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) disclosed a cyber attack last week, which impacted a number of UKRI-related web assets and may have led to data theft.
UKRI is the national funding agency investing in science and research in the UK. Operating across the whole of the UK with a combined budget of more than £6 billion, UKRI directs research and innovation funding, funded through the science budget of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.
UKRI said that the cyber attack has affected two of the group's services, namely a portal used by the Brussels-based UK Research Office (UKRO) and an extranet, known as the BBSRC extranet, which is utilized by UKRI councils. The UKRO portal provides an information service to subscribers, while the extranet is used to support the peer review process for various parts of UKRI.
In a press release UKRI said that its data was encrypted by the third party, which points to the involvement of some kind of ransomware.
UKRI is yet to disclose details concerning the ransomware infection and said that at the moment it can’t confirm whether any data was stolen during the attack.
"We are working to securely reinstate impacted services as well as conducting forensic analysis to ascertain if any data was taken, including the potential loss of personal, financial or other sensitive data," the group said. "If we do identify individuals whose data has been taken we will contact them further as soon as possible."