This information has been sent to the Club Secretary, and we are posting here for our members to read:

“The National Small-bore Rifle Association (NSRA) can confirm that it has been the victim of a cyber-attack. We are unable to provide any further information while a police investigation is ongoing. All our IT systems are fully operational, no funds have been lost and we will communicate fully to our members on the conclusion of the police investigation. We can confirm that this attack has not affected the membership portal, which remains secure.

This attack has targeted legacy servers that contain working documents, not a full database. At this time, we cannot say exactly who this affects as we have no access to the servers.

We have engaged with the National Crime Agency (NCA) and National Police Firearms Licensing to assess and mitigate any additional firearms risk around the data which has been compromised. Information regarding the attack will be shared with local firearms officers and should you have any immediate concerns in relation to firearms security please contact your local Police Firearms Licensing Team.

If you are a certificate holder, or lawfully hold firearms at home without a licence, we suggest that you consider your arrangements to ensure that firearms are stored in compliance with the Firearms Security Handbook.

We are working closely with the South East Regional Organised Cybercrime Unit (SEROCU) who are investigating the crime.

The South-East Regional Organised Crime Unit Cyber Protect team would recommend that if you feel you may be affected by the data breach take immediate steps to secure your online accounts and update any passwords.

Cyber criminals sell and trade stolen data, which may increase the risk of attempted fraud and cyber crime against those involved. Criminals will often try and impersonate the original organisation through phishing emails or cold-calls, making fake offers to help, or may even impersonate the Police pretending to be investigating the breach. Be wary of unsolicited or unexpected contact and attachments to emails which may contain computer viruses. Take the time to try and validate the sender – real Police Officers will never have a problem with you verifying their identity.

There is plenty of advice on reducing your risk following a data breach on the SEROCU Cyber Protect website – search for ‘South East Cyber Police’ to find their dedicated website and follow the links to Data Breach advice.

We appreciate that our members and those associated with the NSRA may be worried about this potential loss of privacy. We do not have the capacity to answer each individual question about this incident and we are unable to comment further at this time as it is an ongoing Police investigation. Updates will be posted on the NSRA website as more information becomes available.

The NSRA appreciates the understanding of its members during this period.”