Secret Brexit Documents Hacked By Russians

The  personal email account of  the former British international trade minister, Liam Fox, was repeatedly hacked into by Russians who stole classified documents relating to US / UK post-Brexite trade talks. The British government has declined to comment on a Reuters report that these classified US-UK trade documents that were leaked ahead of Britain's 2019 election.

It is alleged that these documents played a role in the election campaign in controversy over the British National Health Service. Government sources have confirmed  that there is an active police investigation into the hack, with likely participation of other security services.

Among the stolen information were six tranches of documents detailing British trade negotiations with the United States, which Reuters first reported last year were leaked and disseminated online by a Russian disinformation campaign. British foreign minister Dominic Raab confirmed that report recently, saying that "Russian actors" had sought to interfere in the election "through the online amplification of illicitly acquired and leaked Government documents".

The UK government claims to have very robust systems in place to protect the IT systems of officials and staff and the possibility that the documents were hacked from Liam Fox's personal email server, echoing the 2016 hack on Hillary Clinton, cannot be discounted. 

The hack of Fox's account - which has not been previously reported - and subsequent leak of the classified documents ahead of last year's election is one of the most direct examples of suspected Russian attempts to meddle in British politics. In the past, Moscow has repeatedly denied allegations of election meddling in Britain, France, the United States and other countries. Russia's foreign ministry described the latest British accusations by Raab as "foggy and contradictory".

After first being posted online by an anonymous internet user in the run-up to last year's vote, the stolen documents were seized on by Britain's opposition Labour Party during the election campaign. It said they showed a government plot to sell the much-loved National Health Service to the United States, an accusation Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly denied.

In 2017 up to 90 email accounts belonging to peers and MPs, 1% of parliament’s 9,000 email addresses, were hacked by Iranian agents. Later that year it was reported that passwords belonging to 1,000 British MPs and 1,000 Foreign Office staff had been sold by Russian hackers.

Reuters:            Guardian:          Brisbane Times:        Yahoo: 

You Might Also Read: 

German Government Hit By Russian Hackers: