Security News > 2021 > January > UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) suffers ransomware attack
The UK Research and Innovation is dealing with a ransomware incident that encrypted data and impacted two of its services, one offering information to subscribers and the platform for peer review of various parts of the agency.
UKRI is a public body of the Government of the United Kingdom, tasked with investing in science and research.
Given the funds it works with, the agency is an attractive target for big-game ransomware gangs that target organizations with large pockets to pay for data decryption.
The two services affected by the incident are a portal for the UK Research Office based in Brussels that offers an information service to subscribers and an extranet that UKRI councils use for their peer review activity.
The UKRO subscription service has 13,000 users and the hackers may have taken data belonging to them - non-sensitive, personal information.
Should the investigation reveal a data theft, UKRI will contact affected individuals.
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