It has been reported that the phone number of UK Prime Minister, Liz Truss, is being sold online
A Mail on Sunday (MoS) investigation, has discovered that the current mobile phone number of the new UK Prime Minister is being sold online.
According to the report, mobile phone numbers for the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Kwasi Kwarteng, and 24 other members of the UK Cabinet were also accessible to anyone subscribing to the online site.
A Cabinet Office spokesperson told the MoS that it was investigating, but “some of the information was old.” However, the MoS investigators say that they have confirmed that “26 current phone numbers for the Cabinet” were available, including that of the Prime Minister.
A phenomenal security breach
Former British intelligence officer, Colonel Philip Ingram MBE, told the newspaper that this represented a “phenomenal security breach.” Ingram went on to point out that espionage software such as Pegasus can be “launched on phones with a text message, which doesn’t even have to be opened, just received.”
A government spokesperson told the Independent newspaper that it takes cybersecurity extremely seriously and “agencies like the National Cyber Security Center to help businesses and individuals protect their personal information from cyber threats.” The spokesperson continued to state, “Ministers receive regular security briefings and advice, including advice on protecting their personal data and mitigating cyber threats.”
Tom Lysemose Hansen, the co-founder of security specialists Promon, said, “naturally, attackers gaining access to anyone’s data is dangerous, but when it’s the data of leading political figures, it could have devastating consequences. This has now happened to two British Prime Ministers in recent years, and these phone numbers could be used by nation state hackers to steal government data, hold leverage over political leaders or expose swathes of sensitive information.”
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