Yahoo Finance Staff at NHS outsourcer Capita locked out of computers amid cyber attack fears
An outsourcer that works with the NHS and handles the BBC licence fee has suffered an IT outage, fuelling speculation of a possible cyber attack.
Staff at Capita were unable to log into their computer systems on Friday, with the company confirming it was investigating a “technical issue”.
Employees have been told not to try and reset their passwords or use virtual private networks (VPNs) to attempt to log in, according to the Times, which first reported the incident.
The circumstances have led to speculation that one of the country’s biggest government outsourcers may have been hit by a cyber attack.
Problems logging on are typically the first sign of an attack, as hackers disable key systems so they can steal data.
Early investigations have not yet identified the cause of the problem, The Telegraph understands.
A company spokesman said: “We are aware of a technical issue with our systems which we are investigating.”
It is understood that even Capita’s press office staff are unable to log into their computer systems thanks to the IT outage.
A source inside Capita said they had not received any official update about a major incident, saying: “I found out through a colleague”.
Capita holds billions of pounds of public sector contracts, including work with the Ministry of Defence and the BBC, where it has a £456m contract to administer the TV licence fee.
It is a major supplier of services to the NHS and other government departments.
The Ministry of Defence declined to comment while the Department for Health did not respond to a request for comment.
The Cabinet Office said it was aware of the Capita situation and said it would issue a statement later on Friday afternoon.
In the first three months of this year Capita was awarded £1.6bn in public sector contracts according to figures from Bidstats, an online public contracts tracker website.
Capita's share price fell by more than 4pc on Friday.
