Blackmail fear after hackers hit MP emails
UP TO 90 email accounts used by MPs and their staff may have been compromised in what is thought to have been Parliament’s worst-ever cyber attack.
Panicking MPs fear a possible blackmail threat after what one source said may be a statesponsored attack on their Parliamentary emails over the weekend.
Russia or North Korea are deemed the most likely culprits, although other experts said it could easily be a “lone wolf” hacker operating from their bedroom.
Parliamentary authorities said the compromised accounts used weak passwords below the standards set by official guidance.
Leicestershire MP Andrew Bridgen said: “An attack like this could leave an MP or one of their constituents open to blackmail.”
Parliamentary email addresses are used by MPs and peers, as well as hundreds of staff.
Constituents with personal problems often use the email addresses to raise concerns with local MPs.
Bridgen added: “Constituents want to know the information they send to us is completely secure.”
Theresa May and other Government ministers usually carry out their confidential work from separate email accounts, which are not thought to have been hacked.
The cyber atack prompted Parliament’s digital security team to shut down external access to MPs and peers’ email accounts.
The National Cyber Security Centre and National Crime Agency are investigating.
A parliamentary spokesman said: “Our first priority has been to protect the parliamentary network and systems from the sustained and determined cyber attack to ensure that the business of the Houses can continue. “This has been achieved. “It has become clear that significantly fewer than one per cent of the 9000 accounts on the parliamentary network have been compromised.”