The details of thousands of Greater Manchester police officers have been hacked as part of a cyber-attack.
The force said the digital security of one of its third-party suppliers had been breached in a ransomware attack that was being taken “extremely seriously”.
It is understood the details of officers’ name badges – including their ranks, photos and serial numbers – may have been taken by hackers.
The Guardian has been told that information relating to “thousands” of officers has been breached but that this is not believed to include financial data, such as credit card details.
Colin McFarlane, an assistant chief constable of Greater Manchester police, said: “We are aware of a ransomware attack affecting a third-party supplier of various UK organisations, including GMP, which holds some information on those employed by GMP. At this stage, it’s not believed this data includes financial information.
“We understand how concerning this is for our employees so, as we work to understand any impact on GMP, we have contacted the Information Commissioner’s Office and are doing everything we can to ensure employees are kept informed, their questions are answered, and they feel supported.
“This is being treated extremely seriously, with a nationally led criminal investigation into the attack.”
The attack comes just over a month after major data breaches involving the Metropolitan police and the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
The surnames and initials of 10,000 PSNI employees were accidentally included in a response to a freedom of information request. The details were then published online before being removed.
In an email to staff on Thursday, reported by the Manchester Evening News, GMP said its investigators had established that data from the badges including names, ranks, photos and serial numbers “may have been accessed”.
The email said the National Crime Agency was investigating the hack.