A "sophisticated and malicious phishing attack" has resulted in the leak of personal data of 12,500 students and applicants at the Lancaster University.
The University admitted that records and ID documents of some undergraduate applicant for the years 2019 and 2020 had been accessed, and fraudulent invoices were sent to them.
In a statement released, the university said that they got to know about the breach on Friday, and they have set up an incident team who is working to secure its systems.
“Lancaster University has been subject to a sophisticated and malicious phishing attack which has resulted in breaches of student and applicant data,” it said.
“The matter has been reported to law enforcement agencies and we are now working closely with them.”
Data leaked includes name of the student, their addresses, telephone numbers and email addresses.
A university spokesman said: “Since Friday we have focused on safeguarding our IT systems and identifying and advising students and applicants who have been affected. This work of our incident team is ongoing, as is the investigation by law enforcement agencies.”
