Fota Wildlife Park in Cork has been hit by a cyberattack and customers have been warned that their financial information may have been compromised.
Users have been told that they may need to cancel credit/debit cards used to make payments on the park's website.
In an email to customers, the park said that for anyone who carried out a transaction on its website between the dates of 12 May 2024 and 27 August 2024, there is a risk that their financial information may be compromised.
The park said it recently became aware of illegal activity on its website and that it has taken immediate steps to investigate and identify what information had been accessed in order to carry out containment measures.
Fota said it has removed all access to its user accounts on the website and has engaged external forensic cyber security experts who are investigating the incident.
"If you have a user account on the Fota website, the username, password and email address linked to that account may have been accessed," the email states.
Fota said it is strongly recommending that customers cancel credit or debit cards that have been used to make payments on the park's website.
Customers are also being urged to review relevant bank account and credit card statements since 12 May 2024, to identify potential suspicious activity.
Anyone who uses the same password for other accounts, is urged to change those passwords.
The park said that the incident has been notified to the Data Protection Commission (DPC) and that it is working with An Garda Síochána.
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In a statement, Fota Wildlife Park said that illegal cyber activity was recently identified which impacted its website.
"The organisation's incident response plan was immediately activated, an internal investigation was instigated and appropriate measures were taken to secure the organisation’s website," Fota said.
"Fota Wildlife Park is in the process of contacting all potentially impacted customers.
"In the meantime, Fota Wildlife Park’s day-to-day operations continue as normal," it added.
Fota's website is currently offline but the park remains open to visitors with tickets available for purchase on entry to the park.
Fota Wildlife Park remains open to the public amidst ongoing investigation into cyber attack. Families enjoy an outing today before returning to school @rtenews @fotawildlife #fota pic.twitter.com/jwOUnTnP2H
— Teresa Mannion (@TeresaMannion) August 29, 2024
In a statement this morning, Fota Island Resort said it is aware of the cyberattack at Fota Wildlife Park, but stressed that it is a separate business and not impacted.
It said: "We wish to assure all our previous guests that there has been no cyberattack at Fota Island Resort and no customer data has been compromised.
"This includes any bookings made for the Fota Wildlife Park package on our website, we manage all bookings internally and no credit cards used to purchase this offer have been compromised."
Visitors to the park said they were happy to bring their children before school begins and said they hoped the cyberattack would not affect the amenity long term.
"We're having a great day out before the reality of school sets in next week," said Stephanie Hennessey from east Cork, who was there with her two boys.
"It's a fantastic amenity on our doorstep. It's unfortunate that Fota has been hit by a cyberattack but they're across it now and it won't stop us coming."
Jenny Lehane, also from Cork, said it was "business as usual" for her and her children.
"Sure why wouldn't we come? It's a beautiful day and we love it here, everything is continuing as normal."
Additional reporting Teresa Mannion
