Manchester University issue update after students and staff receive terrifying emails from hackers

Bosses at the University of Manchester have issued an update after students and staff were sent a series of chilling emails threatening to 'destroy lives.'

A number of students and alumni are said to have been directly written to by the university, alerting them that a 'small proportion of data' has been copied in a cyber attack.

It comes after terrified students told the M.E.N they'd received messages from supposed hackers, who claimed to have obtained addresses, police reports, academic investigations and health data from the university network.

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The university say following their investigations, they now 'understand more about the data that has been accessed by a criminal entity.' It is not clear what data has been taken, and how many students have been affected.

In an email sent to students, lecturers and staff this week, hackers threatened to sell off personal data to the 'highest bidder' unless they come to a resolution with the university, or if the recipients of the mail pay a 'small fee' for the non-disclosure of information.

University bosses announced earlier this month that an investigation had been launched following a 'cyber security incident' in which unauthorised activity was detected on its network.

One student, who asked to remain anonymous, told the M.E.N she was "shocked" when the emails came through this week.

"The university have put a new filter system on emails to try and block unwanted messages but clearly it isn't functioning well," she said. "It's quite threatening and we have no idea if the hackers have got the data they claim to hold or are trying to scare.

"Either way, it's our personal data tat the university