UK telecoms regulator says it was affected by MOVEit hack

FILE PHOTO: A hand is silhouetted in front of a computer screen in this picture illustration taken in Berlin May 21, 2013. REUTERS/Pawel Kopczynski

LONDON (Reuters) -Britain's communications regulator Ofcom on Monday said it was one of the organisations affected in a data theft hack centred on the popular file transfer tool MOVEit.

"A limited amount of information about certain companies we regulate - some of it confidential - along with personal data of 412 Ofcom employees, was downloaded during the attack," the watchdog said in a statement.

Tens of thousands of employees of British Airways, drugstore chain Boots and the BBC were among those whose personal data was exposed following the breach, the companies said last week.

Ofcom said it took immediate action to prevent further use of the MOVEit service and to implement the recommended security measures.

A limited amount of Ofcom data was downloaded from the MOVEit server during the breach, rather than from Ofcom systems directly, a spokesperson for the regulator said via e-mail.

(Reporting by Muvija M; editing by William James)