The Climate Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia has been hit by a hacking attack which resulted in a considerable amount of emails and documents being posted online.

The CRU is one of the leading authorities on climate research in the UK, and an investigation is already underway.

A university spokesman who was interviewed by the BBC said: “We are aware that information from a server used for research information in one area of the university has been made available on public websites”.

“Because of the volume of this information we cannot currently confirm that all of this material is genuine. This information has been obtained and published without our permission and we took immediate action to remove the server in question from operation.”