Wightlink, which runs services between the city and the Isle of Wight, reported the cyber security breach to the police last month.
The firm confirmed that a ‘small number of customers and staff’ may have had personal information ‘compromised’ during the incident, according to a spokeswoman from the company.
No payment or card details are retained by the ferry firm, and the hack did not affect any booking or website pages, nor did it impact ferry or FastCats services.
Wightlink has engaged specialist cyber security experts to investigate and assess the situation and reported the matter to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit.
All those affected have been notified and offered support.
Wightlink chief executive Keith Greenfield said: ‘This was a highly sophisticated criminal attack on an essential service.
‘I would like to thank all my colleagues at Wightlink who responded quickly ensuring that the impact to customers was minimised and that cross-Solent travel and bookings were unaffected.’