Iran was behind a “brute force” cyber attack against the United Kingdom involving a number of government email accounts, British media reported Saturday.
Email accounts belonging to Prime Minister Theresa May and dozens of cabinet ministers and members of parliament were targeted in a large cyber attack June 23. Investigators originally thought Russians carried out the attack but a new assessment puts the blame on Iran, The Times reports. It would be the first known time Iran has hacked the U.K.
Some 9,000 accounts were involved in the attack but it’s unclear what sort of information the hackers managed to obtain.
The revelation comes just a day after U.S. President Donald Trump announced his intentions to decertify the nuclear agreement with Iran and sanction the country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization under counter-terrorism authority. (RELATED: Trump Announces Tough Stance Against Iran)
“History has shown that the longer we ignore a threat, the more dangerous that threat becomes,” Trump said Friday. “For this reason upon taking office, I ordered a complete strategic review of our policy towards the rogue regime in Iran.”
May issued a joint statement with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron saying they are concerned with “the possible implications” of Trump’s decision.
“We encourage the U.S. administration and Congress to consider the implications to the security of the U.S. and its allies before taking any steps that might undermine the accord,” the trio said.
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