Public Wi-Fi users at 19 major train stations in the UK have been told that the “Islamisation of Europe is already underway and is getting worse every day” in what police are calling an “Islamophobic” hack.
British Transport Police said it was investigating “Islamophobic messaging on some Network Rail Wi-Fi services” after the default landing page for public internet available at some of the country's largest train stations was changed on Wednesday.
A spokesperson for a third-party telecommunications company that provides public internet access on Network Rail premises said As for how this was achieved, they said: “It was discovered that unauthorised changes were made to a Network Rail landing page from a legitimate Global Reach administrator account… This matter is now the subject of a criminal investigation by British Transport Police.”
Network Rail said it disabled all public internet hotspots in stations when the issue became known and was confident no passenger data had been stolen. Other recent cyber attacks About the UK's transport network.
The content, distributed to what were likely thousands of Internet users on Wednesday afternoon, was a web page titled “Europe, We Love You,” which detailed recent Islamic extremist terror attacks on the continent and claimed that “the Islamization of Europe has already begun and is getting worse every day… Below is just a small taste of what is to come.” Details of the attacks, listed below the introductory text, were illustrated with photographs taken from mainstream media reports, including from the British national broadcaster BBC.
For example, the claims made about the 2017 Manchester Arena terror attack by an Islamic extremist that killed 22 innocent victims and injured 1,107 were factual and readily available in newspaper archives and online, yet most coverage of the incident used screenshots of web pages that had been inserted through a hack. Heavily censoredBritish Transport Police condemned the hack as being aimed at sending an “Islamophobic message”.
The hack affected at least 19 of the UK's largest train stations. While most of the UK's stations are managed by individual train operating companies, the largest and most strategic sites are managed directly by government-owned Network Rail, and it was these stations that were said to have been targeted today. In London, commuter hubs Cannon Street, Charing Cross, Clapham Junction, Euston, Liverpool Street, London Bridge, Kings Cross, Paddington, Victoria and Waterloo were affected.
Of all major London stations, only London St Pancras station reported uninterrupted Wi-Fi.
Outside London, stations affected include Birmingham New Street, Bristol Temple Meads, Edinburgh Waverley, Glasgow Central, Guildford, Leeds, Liverpool Lime Street, Manchester Piccadilly and Reading.
