Clarksons hit by cyber security incident

The company took immediate steps to respond to and manage the incident as soon as it was discovered and has put in place additional security measures to best prevent anything similar from happening in the future. Clarksons said unauthorised access was gained through a single and isolated user account which has now been disabled.

"Today, the person or persons behind the incident may release some data. As a responsible global business, Clarksons has been working with the police in relation to this incident. In addition, the data at issue is confidential and lawyers are on standby wherever needed to take all necessary steps to preserve the confidentiality in the information."

Since the "recent" incident, the company - which is in the process of contacting potentially affected clients and individuals directly - has been working with data security specialists to investigate further and has notified the relevant regulatory bodies.

Chief executive officer Andi Case said: "Issues of cybersecurity are at the forefront of many business agendas in today's digital and commercial landscape and, despite our extensive efforts we have suffered this criminal attack. As you would rightly expect, we're working closely with specialist police teams and data security experts to do all we can to best understand the incident and what we can do to protect our clients now and in the future.

"We hope that, in time, we can share the lessons learned with our clients to help stop them from becoming victims themselves. In the meantime, I hope our clients understand that we would not be held to ransom by criminals, and I would like to sincerely apologise for any concern this incident may have understandably raised."

At 1200 GMT, the shares were down 2.6% to 2,838p.