Virgin Media TV hit by suspected hack attempt which may disrupt programmes

Broadcaster says attempted hack was ‘contained and terminated’

Demi Isaac Oviawe, Lucy Kennedy, Rebecca de Havilland, Darragh Ennis from The Chase and Bill Malone, Virgin Media Television director of content pictured  with Dami Hope from Love Island at a Virgin Media Television launch last summer. Photograph: Brian McEvoy
Demi Isaac Oviawe, Lucy Kennedy, Rebecca de Havilland, Darragh Ennis from The Chase and Bill Malone, Virgin Media Television director of content pictured with Dami Hope from Love Island at a Virgin Media Television launch last summer. Photograph: Brian McEvoy

Virgin Media Television has said the broadcaster may face some disruption to its programming following a suspected attempted hack of its systems.

In a statement, Virgin Media Television said it had identified “an unauthorised attempt to access our systems in recent days”. The broadcaster said the matter had been “fully contained, isolated and terminated”.

“While we complete our review process, our precautionary protocols have included temporarily disconnecting some of our technologies to ensure ongoing maximum security,” the statement said.

“Due to the precautions we have implemented there will be temporary effects to the broadcasting of some of our recorded programming on Virgin Media 3, 4, More and VMTV Player,” it said.

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“We expect normal service will be resumed as soon as we have completed a review and verification process,” the statement said.

Precautions

The broadcaster said it had “pre-planned procedures and precautions” in place which were activated in response to the recent incident. The statement said Virgin Media Television operated “stringent cyber protection measures and systems across all our operations”.

Minister of State in the Department of Communications Ossian Smyth confirmed the National Cyber Security Centre was aware of the incident, which had also been reported to gardaí.

Jack Power

Jack Power

Jack Power is acting Europe Correspondent of The Irish Times