The U.K. Criminal Records Office has disclosed that an investigation is underway into a cybersecurity incident that forced the office to disable its online customer portal beginning March 21, reports The Register.
In an email to users, the government agency said that it has "recently been made aware of a cyber security incident affecting the website between January 17, 2023, and March 21, 2023." The office continued, saying, "As soon as ACRO was made aware of this incident, we took robust action to take the customer portal offline so that we could fully investigate." ACRO said it has so far found no conclusive evidence that the incident has put users' personal data or payment information at risk. ACRO maintains a database of U.K. citizens' criminal records sourced from the U.K. Police National Computer. Authorities use it to conduct checks on prosecutions, cautions, or convictions linked to certain individuals, and the data is also used by companies for vetting potential hires.