At 3pm on Thursday 21st March, the NCOA became aware that the Police Federation IT network had been the subject of a ransomware cyber-attack.
At 3pm on Thursday 21st March, the NCOA became aware that the Police Federation IT network had been the subject of a ransomware cyber-attack. As an immediate but precautionary measure, the NCOA swiftly took the decision to shut down our IT infrastructure until the outcome of the Police Federation threat level had been assessed and all issues resolved. At 07.30 22nd March, an initial overnight assessment highlighted that the same malware had attacked the NCOA domain.
The NCOA has always placed its members' security and protection at the very highest of its priorities. It is for this reason that in 2018, we invested in a further tier of internet security providing 'military standard', high level encryption and database protection and backup. On this occasion, we can report that the system protected member data as it was designed to, keeping it safe and under the continued control of the NCOA. There is no indication that any data has been breached as a result of these high levels of security and early intervention.
Given the level and type of data we hold, our security systems are subject to continuous review and are of paramount importance to us. We have worked with the system owners and IT specialists to ensure that all is 100% safe to switch back on by Monday/Tuesday this week.
A consequence of turning off our system and locking down our data, limited our ability to update you sooner and we apologise for any temporary inconvenience that this may have caused you when trying to reach us. Our HQ contact numbers have remained open throughout this period.
Further updates will appear on our website at www.ncoa.org.uk/news
Simon Boon Simon Bashford
General Secretary President