Hacker attack on Holyrood IT systems
IT systems at the Scottish Parliament have been attacked by hackers.
Parliament Chief Executive Sir Paul Grice said hackers had tried to access parliamentary e-mail accounts in a “brute force cyber-attack” by systematically attempting to crack passwords.
He warned MSPs and their staff to be cautious when opening e-mails from external sources following the attack.
Users were informed the repeated log-in attempts could mean some are locked out of their e-mail accounts.
In an e-mail to staff yesterday, Sir Paul said: “The Parliament’s monitoring systems have identified that we are currently the subject of a brute force cyber-attack from external sources.
“This attack appears to be targeting parliamentary IT accounts in a similar way to that which affected the Westminster Parliament in June.
“Symptoms of the attack include account lockouts or failed log-ins.
“The Parliament’s robust cyber security measures identified this attack at an early stage and the additional security measures which we have in readiness for such situations have already been invoked.
“Our IT systems remain fully operational.”
Users of the parliamentary e-mail system have been asked to update passwords to ensure they are robust.
In June, a similar attack was launched against MPs and their staff at Westminster. Up to 90 e-mail accounts were compromised.