Parliament hit by cyber-security attack

Parliament has been hit by a cyber-security attack, according to Liberal Democrat peer Baron Rennard as reported by Evening Standard.

Baron Chris Rennard tweeted: "Cyber Security attack on Westminster. Parliamentary e-mails may not work properly. Text urgent messages."

 Parliamentary authorities confirmed that MPs and Peers have been left unable to remotely access their emails as a result of the incident.

A House of Commons spokeswoman said: "The Houses of Parliament have discovered unauthorised 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."

The spokeswoman said that the lack of remote access for users was not part of the attack, but due to protection measures dealing with the incident.
The attack comes just over a month after networks in 48 NHS trusts were brought down by a ransomware attack which hit organisations in 99 countries.

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And it follows reports that passwords for MPs and officials were being sold online by hackers.