These days parliament seems less like an episode of House of Cards and more like a Spooks reboot. Whether it’s Chinese spies or cyber-attacks, the good men and women who work in the Palace of Westminster have rarely felt more conscious of their safety – and that’s not to mention the collapsing roof and crumbling masonry. And with fears growing over foreign interference in next year’s general election, Tom Tugendhat, the Security Minister, has now written to MPs outlining plans for a cyber-security shake-up.
Among the measures include a new security advice and support service with ‘hands-on support from security-cleared technical consultants’ working for parliament. Booklets of advice have been sent to MPs on how to ‘make your mobile devices tougher to crack,’ with Members now able to register accounts with the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) for alerts in case of a ‘cyber incident’. The letter, sent last month, was drawn up as part of the Defending Democracy Taskforce which Tugendhat chairs.
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