Islamic State spies hacked emails of UK ministers
This post is also available in: 
עברית (Hebrew)
Britain’s intelligence service has uncovered a “sophisticated espionage operation” run by Islamic State extremists in Syria to hack into the email accounts of British cabinet ministers.
Hacking into the emails could have provided extremists with details of events at which government officials and royalty were expected.
British intelligence agency GCHQ uncovered the plot, which targeting the accounts of some of David Cameron’s most senior ministers, including Home Secretary Theresa May.
The jihadi suspected of masterminding the operation was British computer hacker Junaid Hussain, 21, from Birmingham. On August 21, Britain carried out a drone attack on a car in the Syrian city of Raqqa, an IS stronghold, that killed three Islamic State fighters, including two Britons. The UK said this week that the strike was carried out in self-defense.
According to the Telegraph, “at least one of the plot’s ringleaders” was killed in the attack. According to the paper, one of the Britons targeted in the strike had also directed a plot to kill the Queen. The strike was the first time British Forces have attacked one of its own citizens in peace time.
It is not yet clear how much information the terror group was able to access in the cyber-attack, but it is understood no security breaches occurred, according to the Telegraph.
Although several cyber-attacks have been launched by ISIS in the U.S. and France, this is the first evidence of an attempt to target the private communications of senior British government figures.
