STEETON-based Acorn Stairlifts has been the victim of a cyber attack, the company says.

It has been discovered that on October 6 the business told its customers: “Unfortunately we’re experiencing technical difficulties this morning which means all our systems and phone lines are currently down. Please bear with us while we do our utmost to get everything back up and running.”

Later that day, customers were told servers were still down due to “ongoing technical difficulties”.

In regular updates, the company confirmed it was still having problems, posting on social media on October 12 that it was: “working as quickly as possible to get our systems back up and running”.

On October 20, a post read: “Thankfully, our systems and phone lines are restoring to normal”.

A spokesperson for the company said: “Acorn Stairlifts can confirm that it was recently the victim of an attempted malware attack on its global computer systems.”

While Acorn would not confirm whether personal data had been compromised and how many people had been affected, the spokesperson said: “We informed the relevant law enforcement and data protection authorities at the earliest possible opportunity. The issue has now been resolved and our services are working normally.”

The Information Commissioner’s Office said: “People have the right to expect that organisations will handle their personal information securely and responsibly. If a person has concerns about how their data has been handled, they should raise it with the organisation first, then report them to us if they are not satisfied with the response. Acorn Mobility Services Ltd has made us aware of an incident and we will be assessing the information provided.”