Hackers posing as a White House official attempted to steal the bank details of hundreds of British civil servants in one of the latest cyber attacks on the Government.
Cyber attackers posing as a White House official are said to have targeted Whitehall civil servants Photo: ALAMY
By John Bingham04 Feb 2011Fraudsters posing as a top Washington aide emailed staff in Whitehall inviting them to click on a link which would have triggered a computer bug.
The sophisticated programme was designed to steal their personal data from a “large number” of civil servants.
Details of the foiled attack are expected to be outlined by William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, at an international security summit in Munich, Germany, attended by Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, David Cameron, Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, and other world leaders.
Other examples of cyber attacks on the British state he is expected to disclose include an attempt by a “hostile” power to plant a virus in Foreign Office IT systems, The Sun reported.
Three diplomats are said to have received an email supposedly from a colleague which contained a code to attack their computers.
James Brokenshire, the junior Home Office minister, announced on Thursday that Britain is to opt into new EU rules designed to target cyber criminals.
The Directive on Attacks Against Information Systems requires police across Europe to work more closely together to identify cyber crime suspects and gather evidence.
It contains a set of agreed minimum rules on online crimes and penalties that EU states must build into domestic law, requiring them to respond quickly to overseas requests for help in cyber crime cases.
In Munich, the EastWest Institute, an influential US-based think-tank, is expected to set out proposals to adapt the Geneva Convention to provide “rules of engagement” for “cyber war”.
Cyber attackers posing as a White House official are said to have targeted Whitehall civil servants Photo: ALAMYBy John Bingham04 Feb 2011Fraudsters posing as a top Washington aide emailed staff in Whitehall inviting them to click on a link which would have triggered a computer bug.
The sophisticated programme was designed to steal their personal data from a “large number” of civil servants.
Details of the foiled attack are expected to be outlined by William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, at an international security summit in Munich, Germany, attended by Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, David Cameron, Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, and other world leaders.
Other examples of cyber attacks on the British state he is expected to disclose include an attempt by a “hostile” power to plant a virus in Foreign Office IT systems, The Sun reported.
Three diplomats are said to have received an email supposedly from a colleague which contained a code to attack their computers.
James Brokenshire, the junior Home Office minister, announced on Thursday that Britain is to opt into new EU rules designed to target cyber criminals.
The Directive on Attacks Against Information Systems requires police across Europe to work more closely together to identify cyber crime suspects and gather evidence.
It contains a set of agreed minimum rules on online crimes and penalties that EU states must build into domestic law, requiring them to respond quickly to overseas requests for help in cyber crime cases.
In Munich, the EastWest Institute, an influential US-based think-tank, is expected to set out proposals to adapt the Geneva Convention to provide “rules of engagement” for “cyber war”.
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