The computer systems of UK parliament has suffered a massive cyber attack forcing the staff to quit their operation.
The reports about attacks came on Friday night. However, MPs (Member of Parliament) were locked out from their parliamentary email accounts on Saturday. Those familiar with the situation state that the attack is “sustained and determined.”
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The attack came days after it was revealed that hackers are trying to crack weak login credentials used by “all Parliamentary user accounts.”
The British Express-News reports that Russian hackers have stolen passwords for British cabinet ministers, MPs and police chiefs.
The news was broken by Chris Rennard, a Liberal Democrat peer in the House of Lords who Tweeted that “Cybersecurity attack on Westminster Parliamentary e.mails may not work remotely.”
Cyber security attack on Westminster Parliamentary e.mails may not work remotely Text urgent messages @LibDemLords @LabourLordsUK @Torypeers
— Chris Rennard (@LordRennard) June 24, 2017
In an email sent by the officials states that “The Houses of Parliament have discovered unauthorized attempts to access parliamentary user accounts. We are continuing to investigate this incident and take further measures to secure the computer network, liaising with the National Cyber Security Centre. We have systems in place to protect member and staff accounts and are taking the necessary steps to protect our systems.”
Full preview of the email
This is not the first time when British Parliament has suffered a cyber attack. In 2015, the Parliament’s computers with infected with ransomware in which hackers demanded bitcoins for encryption keys.
This, however, is the third time in the last couple of months that the UK has come under large-scale cyber attacks. The first one was WannaCry ransomware attack infecting cyber infrastructure of NHS (The National Health Service) locking out the staff from their computers and diverting emergency patients.
Last week University College London (UCL) was hit by a ransomware attack shutting down university’s IT system, student management system and shared drives. And now the Parliament which is one of the most prestigious institutions in the country.
At the time of publishing this article, the origin of attack was unknown and under investigation. Stay tuned.
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