British police investigate anti-Islam hacker attack on Wi-Fi at train stations

LONDON (Reuters) – British police said on Thursday they had launched an investigation into a cyberattack after passengers at the country’s major train stations saw an Islamophobic message while trying to use Wi-Fi services.

The Wi-Fi system, operated by communications group Telent, was quickly taken offline after passengers said it displayed a message referring to terrorist attacks.

“We received reports of a cyber-attack at around 5.03pm (16.03 GMT) yesterday (25 September) where anti-Islamic messages were displayed on some Network Rail Wi-Fi services,” British Transport Police said.

Tensions escalated in Britain over the summer when a wave of anti-Islamic riots broke out across the country following the murder of three young girls. Due to misinformation on the internet, an Islamist migrant was initially wrongly blamed for the attack.

Police said they were working with Network Rail to investigate the Islamophobic cybersecurity incident “speedily”.

Network Rail, the group that manages tracks and rail hubs, said Wi-Fi remained offline at 19 stations on Thursday following the incident, including London Bridge and London Euston, as well as Manchester Piccadilly and Edinburgh Waverley.

The company said that given the nature of the service provided, it did not believe that personal data was affected by the hack.

“Following completion of our final safety checks, we expect services to be restored by the weekend,” Network Rail said.

Telent did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Sarah Young, editing by Kylie MacLellan)