UK Parliament hit by cyberattack on email system

Doug Stanglin | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Attacked: UK Parliament's email system According to a House of Commons spokesperson, hackers have hit the British Parliament's email system. The apparent intent was to break into the accounts of hundreds of MPs, Lords and their staffs.

Hackers hit the email system of the British Parliament in an apparent attempt to break into the accounts of hundreds of MPs, Lords and their staffs, according to a House of Commons spokesperson.

Liberal Democrat peer Lord Rennard also confirmed the attack on Twitter.

The attack prompted security services to shut down access to anyone outside the Palace of Westminster, where the two houses of Parliament meet.

A spokesperson for the House of Commons said "unauthorized attempts" were made to gain access to parliamentary email account, The Independent reported.

The spokesperson said Parliament was working with the National Cyber Security Centre to secure the computer network investigate the incident.

Cyber security attack on Westminster Parliamentary e.mails may not work remotely Text urgent messages @LibDemLords @LabourLordsUK @Torypeers — Chris Rennard (@LordRennard) June 24, 2017

Members of the House of Commons and Lords were informed of the cyberattack Friday night and said they were unable to gain access to their emails on Saturday, The Telegraph reported. It is unclear the exact number of lawmakers affected.

Sorry no parliamentary email access today - we're under cyber attack from Kim Jong Un, Putin or a kid in his mom's basement or something... — Henry Smith MP (@HenrySmithUK) June 24, 2017

An email sent to all users of a parliamentary address alerting them to the intrusion said “unusual activity and evidence of an attempted cyber attack” had been discovered, Huffington Post UK reported.

“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,” the security message said, according to the Huffington Post UK.

Statement regarding cyber incident. pic.twitter.com/fAbDkAfdbj — Commons Press Office (@HoCPress) June 24, 2017

The attack comes days after reports that Russian hackers had put passwords belonging to senior ministers, ambassadors and senior police officers up for sale online.