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. Its advice was developed in conjunction with GCHQ through the NCSC.
The guidance aims to strengthen the security of devices and accounts, following the hacking of Stewart McDonald’s emails back in February. Tugendhat’s letter sternly warns that ‘by not taking this advice, you leave yourself wide open to the kinds of simple attack that can damage careers and professional lives.’ It says of the ‘suite of enhanced cyber security measures’:
Whilst this offer is entirely voluntary, it is not a “nice to have”. It will be a vital part of your armoury to protect you from hostile actors who may seek to access your professional data to steal secrets, influence you in clandestine ways or cause harm to you or others… We have all experienced elections many times before, but we strongly believe the next one could be different because of the threats we face, the unique geopolitical situation we find ourselves in and recent advances in technology. Therefore, we all need to be ready to protect ourselves and help defend our democracy.
Let’s just hope those warnings are heeded eh?
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