Fota Wildlife Park told customers to cancel cards after a website breach

Fota Wildlife Park, a conservation park on Fota Island in County Cork, Ireland, disclosed on 28 August 2024 that its website had been compromised. The park said it had recently become aware of illegal activity on the site and had moved immediately to investigate what had been accessed and to contain the incident.

According to the park, anyone who carried out a transaction through the website between 12 May and 27 August 2024 was at risk of having their financial information exposed. Visitors who held online accounts were separately warned that the username, password and email address linked to that account may have been accessed.

The park urged affected customers to contact their banks and cancel any credit or debit card used on the site, to review statements going back to 12 May for suspicious activity, and to change any password reused on other services. It removed access to user accounts, took the website offline and set up a dedicated helpline for concerned customers.

External forensic cybersecurity specialists were engaged to investigate, and the incident was reported to Ireland's Data Protection Commission and to An Garda Siochana. The park did not say how many customers were affected. The park itself stayed open throughout, selling tickets on site while its website remained down.