Boots among companies hit by cyber attack

Boots is one of a number of major companies including the BBC and British Airways that has been bit by a cyber attack believed to have been orchestrated by a Russian-speaking criminal gang.

Reports suggest the hackers targeted software called MOVEit used by payroll provider Zellis.

According to The Telegraph, Boots said it has emailed employees to warn that data including home address and national insurance numbers may have been stolen. So far there are no reports of money having been stolen from the compromised accounts.

It told the outlet: “A global data vulnerability, which affected a third-party software used by one of our payroll providers, included some of our team members’ personal details.

“Our provider assured us that immediate steps were taken to disable the server, and as a priority we have made our team members aware.”

A spokesperson for MOVEit also told the paper it had “corrected” the vulnerability targeted by the hackers in its software.