On Christmas day, a hacker managed to gain access and control over a server at the BBC and then reportedly tried to sell access to other hackers.

It isn’t known if the hacker, who goes by the handle of “HASH”, managed to sell any of the access, but it a common practice among hackers to do so once they have gained control of a system. Since the breach was discovered, the BBC has reportedly secured the sserver, though they aren’t offering any specific comments at the time, only stating that: “We do not comment on security issues.”

The server he took over was connected to ftp.bbc.co.uk, and though again it’s unclear what the BBC uses it for, ftps are generally used in the movement of big files across the web. Hold Security LLC, who work out of Milwaukee and pay attention to cyber-crime, were the first to notice that the BBC had been hacked.

The BBC isn’t the only media organization to be hacked. At the beginning of 2013 the New York Times said that they’d been targeted by Chinese hackers over a a period of four months. There is no evidence to suggest there is any relation between the two attacks.

[via NBC News, image via Tim Loudon’s flickr]