UK Foreign Office reports 'serious’ cyber attack on FCDO website

LONDON, UK – The UK's Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO) was the target of a "serious cyber-security incident", according to reports from the BBC.

The publication stated that the details of the hacking came as a result of a tender document published on a government website, seemingly by mistake which revealed that cyber-security firm BAE Systems Applied Intelligence was called on for "urgent support".

According to the BBC, unidentified hackers got inside the FCDO systems, but were detected during the breach.

Cyberattack was detected

BBC reports that a spokesperson for the FCDO told the publication, "We do not comment on security but have systems in place to detect and defend against potential cyber incidents."

The report further states, “It is not believed that any classified or highly sensitive material was breached. It is also not clear when the incident took place, but the contract finished on 12 January of this year. The contract was valued at £467,325.”

According to the report, the revelations of the breach came as a number of foreign states have been accused of major espionage campaigns in the past, including Russia and China, and foreign ministries of a number of states are regularly targeted - and often breached.

It added that foreign governments are frequently the target of cyber-espionage campaigns by other states seeking access to information about diplomacy and current events.

Who is behind attacks?

While Russia and China have been accused of espionage campaigns, the US and UK intelligence agencies have also been accused of carrying out similar activity around the world, as revealed by former US National Security Agency employee Edward Snowden in 2014.