UK Parliament Hit by ‘Sustained and Determined’ Cyber Attack

UK Parliment Hit by Cyber Attack?

Security services shut down the UK Parliament’s e-mails after being the receiving end of a ‘sustained and determined’ cyber attack. The e-mail system is host to hundreds of accounts, so hackers gaining access to any of these is catastrophic. Of course, this includes members of parliament, lords, aides and the auxiliary staff.

According to investigators, who revealed the information on Saturday, the unauthorised attempts to gain access were through weak password identification,

State-Sponsored Cyber Attack

The Sunday Times reports that it is a state-sponsored cyber attack, with an aim to blackmail the victims. A former official of the US Department of Homeland Security, James Norton, was less optimistic about the attack. He told the Guardian that it would not surprise him if “there have already been some e-mails stolen”. He pointed out the possibility of future leaked e-mails similar to the Clinton presidential campaign.

The investigation is still underway, and there are no details yet as to who this state sponsor is. However, there is no shortage of possible outside elements who could be responsible. This includes other countries like Russia and China trying to influence British politics or even ISIS. In 2015, ISIS militants launched massive DDoS attacks on the country shortly after UK intelligence officials identified an impending cyber attack.

The specificity of the accounts hit gives hints to its root. According to the Huffington Post, fewer than 10 MPs have been the focus of the attack, which certainly appears to point to the political blackmail angle.

Thankfully, there are protection protocols in place to keep the government accounts safe. Of course, changes are also now in place, curbing remote access and mobile phone accounts to minimize unwanted traffic to the servers. Every year, the UK is the target of thousands of cyber attacks. However, there were 188 high-level attacks from the first three months of 2017 alone. Finally, experts just expect this to increase within the next few years.