October 31, 2022
The British government and MPs have jointly declared that Britain has a robust cybersecurity infrastructure for civil servants but want a newspaper report on former Prime Minister Liz Truss’s phone hacking while she was foreign minister investigated.
According to the Mail, private messages between Ms Truss and foreign government officials, including information about the Ukraine war, were intercepted and the hack was discovered during the Tory leadership campaign in the summer, but the messages were suppressed and the then Prime Minister Boris Johnson kept the breach a secret.
The alleged hack also revealed private messages exchanged between Ms Truss and her close friend Kwasi Kwarteng, whom she appointed Chancellor when she became Prime Minister.
Although it is unclear how the hack occurred, opposition leaders have taken up the issue, calling for an impartial investigation into the hack and for information to be shared with a newspaper.
The Mail also quoted unnamed sources as saying agents suspected of working for Russia were responsible for the alleged hacking, but there is no verifiable evidence so far.
“The government has robust systems in place to protect against cyber threats,” a government spokesman said. “That includes regular security briefings for ministers and advice on protecting their personal data and mitigating cyber threats.”
The sources for this piece include an article in APNews.
