Are MPs safe against a hack attack?

It’s parliamentary recess at present but the work doesn’t stop for MPs. Post bags and inboxes remain piled high, with our long-suffering legislators forced to slog through a backlog of Covid-related constituent issues.

Still, the stresses of the job are even greater for those five Tory MPs who have been sanctioned by the Chinese state. Tom Tugendhat, Neil O’Brien, Sir Iain Duncan Smith, Nusrat Ghani and Tim Loughton were among a group of nine UK citizens to face sanctions in March for raising awareness of human rights abuses. The latter three are all members of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) – a group of more than 200 legislators around the world, concerned about China’s activities.

Sir Iain raised the issue of attacks against IPAC’s members in Parliament last week when he asked an urgent question on the reported Chinese state-sponsored cyber-attack on Microsoft exchange servers. The former Tory leader said:

I understand now that there is intelligence from Five Eyes sources that shows that a very active and direct threat from the Chinese Government is aimed directly at the co-chairs of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China.