A MAN from Bradford has been arrested in connection with a "sophisticated and malicious" cyber attack on Lancaster University in which student records and ID documents were accessed.

The 25-year-old was arrested on suspicion of committing Computer Misuse Act and fraud offences in relation to the attack.

He was arrested by officers from the National Crime Agency's National Cyber Crime Unit on Monday, and has since been released under investigation while enquiries continue.

The university said it became aware of the breach on Friday, which targeted data from applicants to the university and accessed their personal information and sent fake invoices to some potential students. The student records system was also breached in the cyber attack.

A statement from the university said: "Lancaster University has been subject to a sophisticated and malicious phishing attack which has resulted in breaches of student and applicant data.

“The matter has been reported to law enforcement agencies and we are now working closely with them.

“Since Friday we have focused on safeguarding our IT systems and identifying and advising students and applicants who have been affected.

"This work of our incident team is ongoing, as is the investigation by law enforcement agencies.”