UK Claims Iran is Behind June Cyberattack on Parliament

Security services notes that a continuous and deliberate cyberattack against the UK Parliament took place on June 23. This involves efforts trying to uncover weak passwords on the staff’s e-mail accounts. At that time, the government did not mention any specifics as to who could have done the attack. The usual culprits such as Russia, China and even extremist groups are suspect. However, authorities now believe that the cyberattack traces back to Iran. This marks the first significant act of cyberwarfare by the state, and shows their cyberwarfare capabilities matches other large cyberpowers.

Cyberattack Fallout

According to The Times, an estimate suggests 9,000 accounts belonging to cabinet ministers, their aides and even Theresa May were impacted. Due to security The revelation that Iran is behind the attack is awkward for Mrs. May. She is currently in talks with US President Donald Trump not to abandon the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Mr. Trump openly dislikes the deal put in place by his predecessor, but his aides have been advising him that it is working.

On Sunday morning however, the office of the Prime Minister states that its commitment to the Iran nuclear deal remains. She has the support of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Both also agree that the international community needs to “come together to push back against Iran’s destabilizing regional activity”, according to a spokeswoman. The nuclear deal with US and Iran also involves China, France, Russia, Germany and the UK. All agree to relax sanctions on the country if their nuclear efforts relax.

Authorities took measures and shut down access to the e-mails upon detecting unusual activity. Lawmakers and staff were unable to access their e-mails remotely for a while after. However, this was not fast enough and the National Cyber Security Centre estimates that around 90 accounts in all were compromised, giving Iran access to several “sensitive material”.