UK Treasury Suffers Daily Cyber Attacks
The U.K. Treasury fights off an average more than one cyber attack a day on its computer system, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne has revealed.
During 2010, “hostile intelligence agencies” were behind hundreds of serious and preplanned attempts to hack into the Treasury’s computer system and steal information, Osborne said at yesterday’s Google’s Zeitgeist conference. In total, the department receives 20,000 malicious emails every month.
As an example of a cyber attack on his department, Osborne described how a “perfectly legitimate” G20-related email was sent to HM Treasury and some other international partners. Within minutes, it seemed as if the email had been resent to the same distribution list.
“In fact, in the second email the legitimate attachment had been swapped for a file containing malicious code,” Osborne said, according to the Guardian. “To the recipient, it would have simply looked like the attachment had been sent twice.”
The department’s systems were able to identify the attack and stopped it, he added.
Osborne said the government had stepped up its efforts to fight cyber attacks, investing £650 million in a new national cybersecurity program.
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