Scotland Yard confirmed had their communications systems “been subject to unauthorised access”.
The force confirmed in a statement that they use a third party called MyNewsDesk to distribute its communications content and early indications point to a break down in security with the third-party systems themselves. The attackers don’t appear to have been very sophisticated. It’s highly possible that this could have been caused by a simple password hack.
The third party in question MyNewsDesk, also appears to have a number of other well known customers like The Body Shop, The Sick Children’s Trust who use its services, but it’s not clear if this security breach is known to have affected any other customers.
Unfortunately, this highlights again that organisations still need to do more to ensure that the third parties they work with, who are delivering services on their behalf and in some cases under their brand. Secure systems against very simple attacks like these.
