British spooks, spooked
UK spymasters MI5 have been
hacked in an apparent bid to steal the identities of visitors to its
website.
According to the UK's Daily Express, the security breach could also
have enabled the hackers to download viruses onto the machines of anyone
using the British intelligence services website. A Whitehall spokeswoman
said there had been a "small issue" with a search engine linked to the MI5
website. What is odd is that MI5 takes security very seriously. Its site is
hosted in a high security environment.
However Tory MP Patrick Mercer,
who is chairman of the Commons' counter-terrorism sub-committee, said that
having potentially highly-classified information available to hackers is
“deeply concerning”. Agents and informers inside terror groups such as al
Qaida are held by MI5. Although we hope these are on a separate server from
the main website.