Parliament has been hit by a cyber attack with “unauthorised attempts” made to access parliamentary user accounts.
MPs on Saturday implored those trying to reach them urgently to do so via text message due to the “cyber security attack”.
According to The Telegraph, MPs were alerted to the hack on Friday night.
The breach comes after reports surfaced on Friday that Russian hackers were trading passwords belonging to British politicians, diplomats and senior police officers.
The Sun reported that parliamentary authorities are working with the National Cyber Security Centre to protect the network and ascertain the scale of the damage.
One MP affected told the newspaper that email accounts were “vulnerable” and warned that officials were always “one or two steps behind the hackers”.
Parliament has confirmed that the House of Parliament 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,” a spokesperson is quoted in the Sun as saying.
“We have systems in place to protect member and staff accounts and are taking the necessary steps to protect our systems.”