Both Houses of Parliament sustained a determined cyber security attack to it’s networks.

Remote access to the accounts of parliamentary network users was suspended on Saturday 24 June after unauthorised access attempts were detected.

This meant MPs and other staff were unable to access their accounts remotely, but IT services within the parliament building continued to functional normally.

Parliament said in a statement on Sunday that the parliamentary network and systems had been protected from the attack to ensure the Houses’ business could continue.

Although investigations are ongoing, the statement said that “significantly fewer” than 90 of the 9,000 accounts on the parliamentary network had been compromised as a result of the use of weak passwords that did not conform to guidance issued by the Parliamentary Digital Service.

“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,” the statement said, adding that Parliament was putting plans in place to resume its wider IT services.

In an email to parliamentary network account holders late on Friday, Rob Greig, director of the Parliamentary Digital Service, said unusual activity and evidence of an attempted cyber attack had been discovered earlier in the day.

“Closer investigation by our team confirmed that hackers were carrying out a sustained and determined attack on all parliamentary user accounts in attempt to identify weak passwords,” he said. “These attempts were specifically trying to gain access to users emails.”

Although the Parliamentary Digital Service was able to detect the unusual activity indicating that an attempted cyber attack was under way and took swift action to limit the potential impact by temporarily shutting down remote access to the network, it is unclear why password guidance was not enforced properly.

The statement issued by Parliament appears to blame to account holders for not following official password guidelines, but uncovers that fact that there is no mechanism for enforcing password policy.

UK security services believe the attack is more likely to be state sponsored than carried out by group of hackers, which cited an unnamed security source as saying it was a brute force attack that appeared to be state sponsored.

The incident comes just days after it emerged that the passwords and email addresses of MPs, parliamentary staff, diplomats and senior police officers had been sold, bartered and then made available for free on Russian-speaking hacking forums.

The Guardian reported that the Russian government was the top suspect in the parliamentary attack, but the paper’s source also said it was “notoriously difficult” to attribute an incident to a specific actor, and security commentators have said it is too early to say who was responsible.

“Such an attack is very simple and cheap to organise, and virtually any teenager could be behind it,” said Ilia Kolochenko, CEO of web security company High-Tech Bridge.

“I would abstain from blaming any state-sponsored hacking groups because with such an unacceptably low level of security, they have likely already been reading all emails for many years without leaving a trace.”

Kolochenko said this incident highlighted once again that cyber security fundamentals were being ignored even by the governments of leading countries.

“Today, two-factor authentication, advanced IP filtering and anomalies detection systems are a must-have for critical systems accessible from the internet,” he said.

“Strict password policies and regular audits for weak and non-compliant passwords are also vital for corporate security. However, apparently, none of these simple but efficient security controls were properly implemented.”

So if you want to save yourself stress, money and a damaged reputation from a cyber incident please ring us now on 01242 521967 or email assist@cyber139.com or complete the form on our contact page NOW

The Queen’s Speech has been praised for removing any doubt about the UK’s commitment to data protection.

The government has promised a new data protection law aimed at incorporating the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) into UK law.

This is a significant move that will provide businesses with certainty on the UK’s intention to meet the obligations of the GDPR.

The UK has long been a world leader in data protection. We have one of the strongest regulatory frameworks in the world and our system is highly respected. We can now build on these foundations to ensure the country continues to be a real destination for data-driven business post-Brexit.

Although the GDPR has been finalised and will come into effect in May 2018, it gives EU member states some leeway to introduce their own optional exceptions in areas such as crime prevention, and also to add their own provisions in areas such as staff data processing.

Countries such as Germany have already started this process, so it is in the UK’s interests that the government follows suit and gives businesses some certainty as soon as possible, given the high fines which will apply in this area in less than 12 months’ time.

While GDPR will be included into UK law post-Brexit, the proposed bill adds additional safeguards, including overhauling the powers of law enforcement and the powers of the information commissioner.

If the government is serious about making the UK the safest country in the world to be an online user, this legislation is another step towards that goal.

Establishing a world class data protection regime

Peter Carlisle, vice-president for Europe at Thales e-Security, said it was encouraging to see that the UK government will be placing a greater emphasis on establishing a world-class data protection regime.

“The greater the volumes of data accessible online, the greater the potential for exposure and the increased chance of hackers taking advantage of systems that some have thought impregnable,” he said. “Ensuring that both individuals and businesses have as much control as possible over where and how their data is used is critical to the UK’s broader cyber security strategy.”

Beaming, a specialist business internet service provider also welcomed the government’s commitment to improving cyber security.

“Cyber security breaches cost businesses almost £30 billion last year, and small firms in particular are accelerating investment in security technologies to protect themselves and their customers from threats online,” said Sonia Blizzard, managing director of Beaming.

“Making the UK the best place to start and run a digital business requires far more than a commitment to boosting security,” she said. “As customer expectations and data usage grow, factors such as speed and service resilience become ever more important, so it is vital that the Conservatives keep their manifesto pledge to accelerate rollout of the full-fibre technology that will improve service across the country and establish the clear path to national fibre coverage they’ve promised over the next decade.”

Research conducted for Beaming earlier this year revealed UK businesses were subjected to almost 230,000 cyber attacks each during 2016, on average, that 52% of UK businesses fell victim to some form of cyber crime in 2016 at a cost of £29.1bn, that viruses and phishing attacks were the most common corporate cyber threats faced by businesses impacting 23% of the businesses surveyed, and that just under a fifth of firms suffered some form or hack or data breach in 2016.

So if you want to save yourself stress, money and a damaged reputation from a cyber incident please ring us now on 01242 521967 or email assist@cyber139.com or complete the form on our contact page NOW