BBC server hacked by Russian cyber criminal

A general view of the BBC headquarters in London

9:57AM GMT 30 Dec 2013

A Russian hacker secretly infiltrated a computer server at the BBC and tried to convince other cyber criminals to pay him for access to the system, according to reports. The BBC’s security team responded to the issue on Saturday and believes it has secured the site, a person familiar with the incident told Reuters. It is not known whether the hackers stole data or caused any damage to the system. The BBC declined to discuss the incident, claiming that it does not comment on security issues. The server in question was an FTP server, which would typically be used to manage the transfer of large data files over the Internet.