Iran now main suspect in UK parliament cyberattack — report

The June hack hit the accounts of dozens of MPs, including PM Theresa May and senior ministers

By Agencies and ToI Staff 14 October 2017, 10:18 am

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British intelligence officials now believe that Iran was behind a June cyberattack at Britain’s parliament that breached some 90 email accounts, including that of Prime Minister Theresa May, UK media reported.

Investigators had blamed the attack on Russia or North Korea, but now believe that Tehran was behind the hack that saw lawmakers’ passwords sold online, according to an unpublished assessment by British intelligence seen by British media.

A spokesperson for the National Cyber Security Center, the government body responsible for helping to counter attacks, told the Guardian that: “It would be inappropriate to comment further while inquiries are ongoing.”

The report was first reported by The Times, but later also confirmed by the Guardian, which said that the attack hit the accounts of dozens of MPs, including May, and senior ministers. The network affected was used by every MP for interactions with constituents.

Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May delivering her speech on the final day of the Conservative Party annual conference at the Manchester Central Convention Centre in Manchester, northwest England, October 4, 2017 (AFP PHOTO / Oli SCARFF)

At the time of the June 23 attack, a security source told the Guardian that “It was a brute force attack. It appears to have been state-sponsored,” adding that “the nature of cyberattacks means it is notoriously difficult to attribute an incident to a specific actor.”

“Investigations are ongoing, but it has become clear that significantly fewer than one percent of the 9,000 accounts on the parliamentary network have been compromised,” the parliamentary spokesman told the Press Association.

“As they are identified, the individuals whose accounts have been compromised have been contacted and investigations to determine whether any data has been lost are under way,” he added.

Liberal Democrat lawmaker Chris Rennard tweeted that there was a “cyber security attack on Westminster; Parliamentary emails may not work remotely.”

International Trade Minister Liam Fox told ITV News said it was a “warning to everyone we need more security and better passwords.”

Fox told the BBC: “We know that our public services are attacked so it is not at all surprising that there should be an attempt to hack into parliamentary emails”.