Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle shared advice suggesting MPs should not take their phones to sensitive meetings, given the threat from state-sponsored hackers, as well as criminals and fraudsters. Other security measures MPs were asked to take included setting up multi-factor authentication, which requires two forms of authentication to access resources or data, as well as updating software and deleting old messages. The advice came from the National Cyber Security Center (NCSC), accompanied by a letter from Hoyle telling colleagues that only one person’s phone camera or microphone needed to be compromised for everyone in a room to be compromised. After Liz Truss’ phone was hacked by Russians, Hoyle said “recent events” showed hostile states were trying to “gain knowledge or influence our democratic processes for their economic, military or political advantage”. He added: “Our phones hold so much information: our messages, emails, contacts, photos and social media posts – including private, sensitive, personal, historical and sometimes even deleted data.” Truss’ phone is said to have been hacked over the summer, when she was foreign secretary and the front-runner in the Tory leadership race. According to the Mail on Sunday, spies suspected of working for the Kremlin gained access to sensitive information, including discussions about the war in Ukraine and private conversations with Kwasi Kwarteng, who would later become its chancellor. Hoyle said that “while no personal mobile phone can ever be made completely secure by a determined nation-state attacker”, 10 “top tips” had been compiled by the NCSC to make the devices “as resilient as possible”. In a letter revealed by HuffPost UK, he added: “You may not feel able to do everything on this list, but the more you do, the less likely your personal information and mobile phone will be compromised or the less damaging the consequences if you’re hacked.” MPs were advised to limit how long messages are stored on their phone and check their privacy settings to restrict apps from accessing their microphone or location data, as well as turning off message previews. Other suggestions made were for MPs to: “safely wipe” any device they no longer use and intend to pass on. use a password manager. and be aware of the environment when using the phone. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Security Secretary Tom Tugendhat is leading a Westminster task force to tackle threats to the UK’s democratic institutions. He said “our democracy is under attack” and that the speaker was “right to warn all MPs”. “That’s why I’m leading a new task force to bring together diverse groups that can protect our core sovereignty – the right to choose who leads us,” he added. Tory MP Tobias Ellwood, who chairs the defense select committee, has previously warned that if Truss’ phone is hacked, “so will other senior government officials, diplomatic and military figures”.
