UK Political Parties Asked for Advice on Cyber-Attacks
https://sp-security.blogspot.com/2017/02/uk-political-parties-asked-for-advice.html
British
political parties have approached their local surveillance agency GCHQ
asking for advice on how to improve their online security. The National
Cyber Security Centre confirmed that the parties had contacted it in an
informal manner and that it expected to be asked to provide formal
advice on security. Perhaps, the agency will offer seminars for
political parties in the future.
It is unknown which parties had made approaches, but it is obvious that the political parties engaging with the intelligence services have always been a sensitive issue. The National Cyber Security Centre was established as the public face of GCHQ intended to provide advice to businesses, members of the public and other entities worried about online security.
With expanding cyber-attacks over the last few years and with 2017 elections in the Netherlands, France and Germany, the concerns are understandable. According to the chief technical director of the National Cyber Security Centre, political parties were set up like medium-sized enterprises, while constituency parties – like small enterprises. As such, the kind of advice suitable for SMEs could be given to political parties.
It was also suggested that the Conservative party has been closer to the intelligence community than Labour, which leaves a residue of suspicion. It is not a secret that leftwingers were often targets of surveillance by the intelligence services during the cold war.
It is believed that advice from the National Cyber Security Centre would not be foolproof, although advice might have helped the Democratic party being hacked. At the same time, personal emails such as that of the chairman of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign would have been more problematic.
Posted by:
It is unknown which parties had made approaches, but it is obvious that the political parties engaging with the intelligence services have always been a sensitive issue. The National Cyber Security Centre was established as the public face of GCHQ intended to provide advice to businesses, members of the public and other entities worried about online security.
With expanding cyber-attacks over the last few years and with 2017 elections in the Netherlands, France and Germany, the concerns are understandable. According to the chief technical director of the National Cyber Security Centre, political parties were set up like medium-sized enterprises, while constituency parties – like small enterprises. As such, the kind of advice suitable for SMEs could be given to political parties.
It was also suggested that the Conservative party has been closer to the intelligence community than Labour, which leaves a residue of suspicion. It is not a secret that leftwingers were often targets of surveillance by the intelligence services during the cold war.
It is believed that advice from the National Cyber Security Centre would not be foolproof, although advice might have helped the Democratic party being hacked. At the same time, personal emails such as that of the chairman of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign would have been more problematic.
Posted by:
SaM
extratorrent
