UK Parliament Hit By Cyberattack Leaving Members Without Email Access

The U.K. parliament was hit by a “sustained and determined” cyber attack Friday, leaving lawmakers without access to their emails, according to reports.

The cyber criminals were trying to get into the email accounts of members and their staffers. The estate’s digital team made changes to email accounts to block the hackers out, leaving lawmakers without access. Various parliament member went on Twitter to confirm they couldn’t access their accounts.

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“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,” said parliament member Henry Smith on Twitter.

“If you try and contact me by my parliamentary e-mail address then l will not be able to respond currently, this is due to a cyber attack,” tweeted lawmaker Angela Rayner.

An email to those affected by the cyber attack, seen by the Guardian, said:

“Earlier this morning, we discovered unusual activity and evidence of an attempted cyber-attack on our computer network. Closer investigation by our team confirmed that hackers were carrying out a sustained and determined attack on all parliamentary user accounts in an attempt to identify weak passwords.

“These attempts specifically were trying to gain access to our emails. We have been working closely with the National Cyber Security Centre to identify the method of the attack and have made changes to prevent the attackers gaining access, however our investigation continues.”

The National Crime Agency said it was working with the National Cyber Security Centre on the incident.

“We're aware of a possible cyber incident affecting parliament & are actively cooperating with @ncsc who're leading the operational response,” the agency tweeted.

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The House of Commons confirmed the cyber attack in a statement saying it “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," read the statement. "We have systems in place to protect member and staff accounts and are taking the necessary steps to protect our systems.”

The cyber attack comes after a recent report by the London Times revealed passwords belonging to tens of thousands of British officials, including cabinet ministers, ambassadors and senior police, officers were being traded on the internet by Russian hackers.

Both cyber criminal acts follow an attack on National Health Service (NHS) hospitals throughout the U.K. in May. The cyber attack left staff without access to computers or phones and forced hospitals to divert emergency patients. An NHS IT employee said a message demanding users pay $300 in Bitcoin in able to regain access to the computers appeared on the screens of affected machines, according to the Guardian.