The charity in question, Aid to the Church in Need, knows that the addresses of more than 2,000 donors has been accessed but is unsure at present how much money has been extracted. In some cases, the hackers contacted the benefactors directly to try and extract more money.

Neville Kyrke-Smith, national director of Aid to the Church in Need UK, said: “We are all in a state of shock. Apart from the obvious distress to benefactors, we’re concerned that our charity identity has been stolen. I urge all charities to regularly review their website security and make sure all software up to date.”

Charities concerned about web security should view the online guidance supplied by the Department of Trade and Industry at www.dti.gov.uk/industries/information_security/downloads.html