The2017 Westminster data breach occurred on 23 June 2017, when an unauthorised attempt was made to gain access toemail accounts belonging to a number of politicians at the United Kingdom'sHouses of Parliament.[1]Whitehall officials have claimed thatIran was behind the attack.[2]
The incident was followed by an attempt to hack accounts belonging to politicians at theScottish Parliament in August 2017.
Parliamentarians were told about thecyberattack on the evening of 23 June, and it was made public knowledge the following day byChris Rennard, aLiberal Democrat member of theHouse of Lords who posted a request onsocial media asking people needing to contact him urgently to do so viatext message.Remote access to politicians email accounts was disabled.
However, a spokesperson for theHouse of Commons said that this was a precautionary measure to protect security rather than a consequence of the cyberattack itself. The matter is being investigated by theNational Cyber Security Centre with assistance from theNational Crime Agency.[3]
Westminster authorities described the attack as "sustained and determined", and follows media reports that the email passwords of government ministers had been obtained by hackers and were being sold online.[4]
On 25 June, a Westminster spokesperson confirmed the cyberattack had been an attempt to hack email accounts with weak passwords, but that an investigation had found less than 1% of the 9,000 email addresses associated with parliament had been compromised—a figure representing around 90 email accounts. However, it was still being treated as a serious security breach: "The figure is less than many feared, but is still a breach."[5] MPs subsequently said that agencies with links to either Russia or North Korea were suspected of being behind the attack.[6]
On 15 August, officials atHolyrood, home of theScottish Parliament warned that accounts belonging toMembers of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) were currently the subject of aBrute-force attack which was attempting to crack weak passwords, but that no accounts had been compromised. However, MSPs were warned they may find themselves temporarily locked out of their accounts for security reasons. News outlets, such asThe Guardian reported the attack was similar in nature to the one that had occurred at Westminster.[6] The following day officials said that Holyrood was working with the UK'sNational Cyber Security Centre to increase security measures.[7]
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