BREAKING: Parliament hit by ‘sustained and determined’ cyber attack on MP emails
Parliament has been hit by a “sustained and determined” cyber security attack aimed at gaining access to MPs and staffers email accounts.
By ROSS LOGAN
Express.co.uk
Sat, Jun 24, 2017
Liberal Democrat peer Baron Rennard warned the situation meant parliamentary emails may not be accessed outside Westminster.
He tweeted: “Cyber security attack on Westminster, Parliamentary e.mails may not work remotely [sic].”
The attack follows reports that passwords for MPs and officials were being sold online by hackers.
Parliament was alerted to the attempted security breach on Friday evening.
An email sent to MPs by Parliament’s digital services team said: “Earlier this morning we discovered unusual activity and evidence of an attempted cyber-attack on our computer network.
“Closer investigation by our team confirmed that hackers were carrying out a sustained and determined attack on all parliamentary user accounts in an attempt to identify weak passwords. These attempts specifically were trying to gain access to our emails.
“We have been working closely with the National Cyber Security Centre to identify the method of the attack and have made changes to prevent the attackers gaining access, however our investigation continues.”
A Parliamentary spokeswoman said remote email access had been disabled as part of security measures, and was not part of the security hack.
She said: “The Houses of Parliament have discovered unauthorised attempts to access parliamentary user accounts.
“We are continuing to investigate this incident and take further measures to secure the computer network, liaising with the National Cyber Security Centre.
“We have systems in place to protect member and staff accounts and are taking the necessary steps to protect our systems.”
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