The UK Parliament was the target of what is described as a "steady and determined" cyberattack that began over the weekend, with local officials confirming that external access to email has been blocked as a security measure.
Parliament has already contacted all members to warn of the security risks following the cyberattacks and explained that an investigation is underway.
"Earlier this morning we discovered unusual activity and evidence of a cyberattack operation on our computer network," the email warning states according to The Guardian.
"Closer investigation by our team confirmed that hackers were carrying out a sustained and determined attack on all parliamentary user accounts. We have worked closely with the National Cyber Security Centre to identify the method of attack and have made changes to prevent the attackers from accessing it.".
The new cyberattacks come just days after reports from British media revealed that accounts, including passwords, of British police officers and parliamentary staff were available for online purchase after being stolen by Russian hackers.
The accounts were reportedly compromised as part of the 2012 LinkedIn data breach, affecting millions of users. The National Cyber Security Center (NCSC) is now advising thousands of government officials to change their passwords as soon as possible to ensure their data is not accessed.
At least 1,000 British MPs and members of parliament are said to be affected, along with more than 1,000 members of the Foreign Office.
Although all users were advised to change their passwords soon after authorities received information about the LinkedIn in 2012, another warning was issued last year when Russian hackers attempted to sell credentials allegedly belonging to British officials.
So far, there are no reports of compromised data following the recent cyberattack, and there are no details on the restoration of remote network access.
