The Guardian has confirmed it was hit by a ransomware attack in December and that the personal data of UK staff members has been accessed in the incident.
The Guardian Media Group’s chief executive, Anna Bateson, and the Guardian’s editor-in-chief, Katharine Viner, confirmed the news in an update emailed to staff on Wednesday afternoon.
They described the incident as a “highly sophisticated cyber-attack involving unauthorised third-party access to parts of our network”, most likely triggered by a “phishing” attempt in whic