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| Parliament hit by cyber attack as hackers attempt to access MPs' email accounts | Parliament hit by cyber attack as hackers attempt to access MPs' email accounts |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Hackers have targeted Parliament’s email system in an attempt to access the accounts of hundreds of MPs, Lords, aides and staff. | Hackers have targeted Parliament’s email system in an attempt to access the accounts of hundreds of MPs, Lords, aides and staff. |
| Security services to shut down access for anyone not in Westminster as part of efforts to secure the network. | Security services to shut down access for anyone not in Westminster as part of efforts to secure the network. |
| “The Houses of Parliament have discovered unauthorised attempts to access parliamentary user accounts,” a parliamentary spokesperson told The Independent. | “The Houses of Parliament have discovered unauthorised attempts to access parliamentary user accounts,” a parliamentary spokesperson told The Independent. |
| “We are continuing to investigate this incident and take further measures to secure the computer network, liaising with the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC). | |
| “We have systems in place to protect member and staff accounts and are taking the necessary steps to protect our systems.” | “We have systems in place to protect member and staff accounts and are taking the necessary steps to protect our systems.” |
| MPs were told of the cyber attack on Friday night and said they were unable to access their emails the following morning. | |
| An email sent to everyone using a parliamentary address said “unusual activity and evidence of an attempted cyber attack” had been discovered. | |
| “Closer investigation by our team confirmed that hackers were carrying out a sustained and determined attack on all parliamentary user accounts in attempt to identify weak passwords,” said a message seen by the Huffington Post. | |
| “These attempts specifically were trying to gain access to users’ emails.” | |
| It said changes had been made to the system to prevent the attackers gaining access, shutting down remove access to emails and unspecified services via mobile one, but access to systems on the Westminster state itself was unaffected. | |
| Oz Alashe, a former special forces Lieutenant Colonel and CEO of cyber security platform CybSafe, said compromising email accounts can merely be the “first step” in a wider attack. | |
| “Email accounts represent a rich source of information for hackers so compromising these accounts would often be the first step in a sophisticated cyber attack,” he added. | |
| “With the disarray caused by the recent elections, and the resultant changes in parliamentary staff, it would be a prime time to use social engineering to obtain email passwords. | |
| “Fortunately, it appears this attack has been detected early and locked down, let’s hope no sensitive information has been lost to hackers.” | |
| It came days after reports that Russian hackers had put passwords belonging to senior ministers, ambassadors and senior police officers up for sale online. | It came days after reports that Russian hackers had put passwords belonging to senior ministers, ambassadors and senior police officers up for sale online. |
| Two lists of stolen data included the log-in details of 1,000 British MPs and parliamentary staff, 7,000 police employees and more than 1,000 Foreign Office officials, The Times reported. | Two lists of stolen data included the log-in details of 1,000 British MPs and parliamentary staff, 7,000 police employees and more than 1,000 Foreign Office officials, The Times reported. |
| The information was believed to have been stolen from LinkedIn, MySpace and other smaller sites, with many passwords “easy to guess” incorporating memorable numbers and relatives’ names. | |
| Official guidance from the NCSCs states that hackers use software that automatically predicts minor variations to passwords including the substitution of letters for numbers, warning not worsen vulnerability by using the same password for accounts at work and home. | |
| Members of the Commons and Lords were giving out alternative contact details on Saturday as the security services continued their work. | |
| Fears of a cyber attack on Parliament increased following the successful hacks targeting emails related to Hillary Clinton and Emmanuel Macron’s presidential campaigns. | |
| The UK was also rocked by the WannaCry ransomware attack that hit computers running outdated versions of Microsoft Windows around the world last month. | |
| Infecting more than 230,000 computers in 150 countries, it had a devastating effect on the NHS as computers were left displaying only a page demanding bitcoin payments to de-crypt files. |