A man has been apprehended by British Transport Police after an incident in which passengers connecting to internet services at 19 major hubs last week were greeted with Islamophobic messages

A man was been arrested following an investigation into an act of “cyber vandalism” which hit train stations across the UK.

Last week, a cyber incident affected a public WiFi network across 19 UK railway stations, where passengers attempting to access connectivity were met with a screen displaying Islamophobic messages about terror attacks in Europe.

The stations affected include major transport hubs Edinburgh Waverley, Glasgow Central, Manchester Piccadilly, Liverpool Lime Street, Leeds Birmingham New Street, Reading, Guildford, Bristol Temple Meads and 10 stations in London: Cannon Street; Charing Cross; Clapham Junction; Euston; King’s Cross; Liverpool Street; London Bridge; Paddington; Victoria; and Waterloo.

On Friday the British Transport Police (BTP) announced that a man has been arrested on suspicion of offences under the Computer Misuse Act 1990 and the Malicious Communications Act 1988.

The force said that the man in question is employed by GlobalReach Technology, a company “provides some WiFi services to Network Rail”.

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“Officers received reports of a breach of some Network Rail WiFi services at railway stations which were displaying Islamophobic messaging,” BTP added. “The abuse of access was restricted to the defacement of the splash pages, and no personal data is known to have been affected.”

The contract to deliver the GlobalReach services is fulfilled by telecoms and digital services firm Telent.

The company said in a statement: “Telent can confirm that the incident was an act of cyber vandalism which originated from within the Global Reach network and was not a result of a network security breach or a technical failure.”

The incident was the second major hack to hit the UK transport industry in less than a month.

On 1 September, Transport for London (TfL) suffered a cyberattack, during which the personal data of 5,000 customers was compromised. However, TfL has said it is not aware of any customers who have suffered any losses due to the breach.

Two weeks ago, a 17-year-old boy from Leicester was arrested in connection to the attack, but TfL’s chief technology officer Shashi Verma said that “the situation continues to evolve”.