Abortion service attacked by hackers
One of Britain's leading abortion services has suffered thousands of hacking attacks, it has emerged.
Some 2,500 attempts have been made on BPAS in the last five weeks, it has been revealed.
The development comes after a man was arrested stealing the details of women who had contacted the service.
BPAS said all the attempts had been prevented and no personal information was revealed.
The attacks, which were reported by the BBC, mark the opening of a new front in the debate on abortion.
Last month, James Jeffery was jailed for two years and eight months after pleading guilty to breaking into the BPAS website. He intended to publish the data, which included names and phone numbers, but said he got cold feet.
Around half the IP addresses of the computers conducting the attempted hacking of BPAS came from the US, although that does not necessarily mean the attempts originated there.
Nevertheless, the information raises concerns that the heightened pitch of the debate across the Atlantic may be reaching British shores.
Around 53,000 women have abortions under BPAS supervision each year.
