Spy chiefs in crackdown on ministers’ own mobiles
After Truss’s phone is ‘hacked by Russians’ …
SPY chiefs have ordered ministers to stop using their personal phones to conduct government business following a suspected Kremlin hack on Liz Truss’s mobile.
A Whitehall source said all ministers involved in national security would be expected to attend fresh training with the security services this week ‘to ensure everyone is aware how this material should be handled’.
Ministers will be warned they should never use their personal mobile phones to conduct Government business as they are likely to be the target of hostile states such as Russia, China, North Korea and Iran.
Pauline Neville-Jones, former chairman of Britain’s joint intelligence committee, yesterday said she was ‘not at all tolerant of the notion that it’s OK for ministers to use private mobile phones’.
The warnings follow astonishing revelations in yesterday’s Mail on Sunday that Miss Truss’s personal mobile was spied on by hackers thought to be working for Moscow while she was foreign secretary.
The hack was discovered during the Tory leadership contest in the summer, but a news blackout was ordered by Boris Johnson and Cabinet Secretary Simon Case.
Miss Truss is said to have been so worried about the potential damage to her leadership bid that she ‘had trouble sleeping’ until the news was suppressed.
Messages dating back up to a year are thought to have been downloaded, including highly sensitive discussions with fellow foreign ministers about issues such as arms shipments to Ukraine.
Hacked messages are said to have contained private criticisms of Mr Johnson by Miss Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng, potentially opening them up to blackmail attempts at a time when they were both senior ministers in his government. Parliamentary sources yesterday said the shocking incident was now likely to be investigated by the Intelligence and Security Committee, which oversees the work of the security services.
One source on the committee said: ‘On the face of it, it looks extremely serious. The protocols around using secure lines have been in place for years – why on earth was the foreign secretary using her personal mobile? Frankly, it beggars belief.’
Baroness Neville-Jones, a former security minister, told Times Radio it was ‘extremely unhealthy’ for ministers to be conducting official business through private channels, particularly when using personal phones that are ‘vulnerable’ to hacking. ‘It’s common sense to know that your mobile is potentially vulnerable, and it is the rule that you don’t use it,’ she said. ‘This is what got Hillary Clinton into trouble.’
Former Army chief Lord Dannatt said the hacking incident suggested ‘ill discipline’ among ministers – and added to concerns about the forwarding of sensitive information by Home Secretary Suella Braverman, for which she resigned this month before being reinstated by Rishi Sunak.
He said the behaviour was ‘not good enough’. ‘If you want to communicate government business, use an encrypted handheld device, use a secure telephone line, use a secure means of communication,’ he said.
‘People in senior positions have got access to these secure means of communicating and they should use them. Not doing so is ill discipline and, frankly, reflects very poorly on their judgment.’
Michael Gove did not dispute the report that Miss Truss’s phone had been hacked, saying the Mail on
‘Frankly, it beggars belief’ ‘Very robust protocols’
Sunday was ‘a trusted newspaper, so I don’t want in any way to cast doubt on its report’. But the Levelling Up Secretary said ministers were told to take cybersecurity ‘incredibly seriously’, and that the Government had ‘very robust protocols in place’ to prevent hacking.
Sir Richard Dearlove, former head of MI6, said senior government ministers were ‘obvious targets’ for the security services of hostile powers. He told BBC Radio 4’s The World This Weekend ‘the likelihood’ was that Miss Truss’s phone had been targeted by Russia, which he said had ‘significant capabilities’ for hacking.
TWO lessons must be learned from the apparent hacking by the Kremlin of Liz Truss’s personal mobile phone.
First, politicians should not discuss any important matters of state on insecure phones or computers.
Secondly, hostile powers across the world are putting more resources than ever into cyber warfare.
As he prepares his Autumn statement, the Chancellor must now know that cutting spending on this crucial area of defence would be an act of national self-harm.