Ryanair reveals £3.26m stolen from bank account in hack

Chinese hackers are reportedly responsible for stealing $5m (3.25m) from one of Ryanair's bank accounts last week.

The airline makes fuel transactions for its fleet of 400 Boeing 737-800 aircraft in US dollars and believes the money may have been stolen from that particular bank account when it was transferring funds for those purposes.

The stolen money was deposited via electronic bank transfer to a Chinese bank, reports from Ireland have revealed, but it hasn't been announced who the bank account belongs to or whether the money is still in the country.

Ryanair said in a statement: "Ryanair confirms that it has investigated a fraudulent electronic transfer via a Chinese bank last week. The airline has been working with its banks and the relevant authorities and understands that the funds less than $5m have now been frozen. The airline expects these funds to be repaid shortly, and has taken steps to ensure that this type of transfer cannot recur."

The company said it would not be able to comment further on the matter, because it is pursuing legal proceedings with the help of the Criminal Assets Bureau in Dublin and other recovery organisations in Asia.

As yet, the funds have not been recovered, neither has anyone claimed responsibility for the attacks, or given a reason as to why Ryanair may have been targeted.

China was one of the countries US authorities flagged as a risk to its security back in February. James Clapper, the director of national intelligence accused China of stealing intellectual property and exploiting computer networks.