Last night, Strathclyde Police closed its website following a potential virus attack by Chinese hackers.

The site was closed to allow the IT department at Strathclyde Police to assess the threat following a number of weblinks appearing on the site, diverting users to a Chinese site known for distributing viruses.

A spokesperson for Strathclyde Police explained that its IT engineers were investigating what had happened, and that the site would remain closed until ‘the anomaly’ had finished being examined.

They ruled out viruses as the cause and said that no one who had logged onto the site, would have put their computer at risk.

In reporting the story this morning, The Herald quoted Grant Gibson, digital innovation manager at the Herald and Times Group warned that the police should not be complacement about any potential attack.

Gibson said: “Regardless of whether the site is active or dormant at this precise moment, the hackers have a window into the Strathclyde Police page from a location outwith their control. This 'window' is registered to an individual in China, which could be reactivated at any time.”

At the time of writing, the website was still down.