The following statement was posted on RacingPost.com this morning:
Stringent new measures are being put in place to prevent a repeat of the security breach that has affected racingpost.com.
In the meantime, the website is completely safe to use as you wish because we have removed all log-in and registration functionality.
Betting through the site with our partner bookmakers has at all times been unaffected as this activity takes place directly with the bookmaker. Racing Post is not involved in the process – we hold no details whatsoever in relation to your betting accounts.
Our site was the subject of a sophisticated, sustained and aggressive attack on Friday and Saturday, in which one of our databases was accessed and customer details were stolen.
Customer credit and debit card details are not stored on the site and have therefore not been accessed and are not at risk.
The information at risk from the database that was compromised will vary in the case of each customer, depending on how much information you gave us when you registered.
It includes: usernames, first and last names, encrypted passwords, email and customer addresses and date of birth.
As a consequence, customers have been advised by email that they should take the precaution of changing their password on other sites if it is the same one that they use for racingpost.com.
Customers who are unsure of their password should be aware these are encrypted and we are therefore unable to tell them what the password is. Our advice, if in doubt, is to change passwords on other sites as a precaution as we cannot be confident that the hackers will be unable to break the encryption.
Racing Post editor Bruce Millington said: “Security is an area we take extremely seriously and our website has not been compromised previously. As soon as we were aware of the situation we did everything in our power to halt the breach.
“As part of our efforts to resolve the issue, we have turned off the ability to register / log-on to racingpost.com. You will still be able to access the site safely. Members’ Club content will also be available.
“We are extremely sorry that this unfortunate incident has occurred. We believe it may be part of a wider attack on a number of companies. We thank you for your patience and understanding.”
Customers with any further questions are requested to contact Racing Post customer services on 01635 246505.