https://arab.news/cp5tw
- Kremlin agents had hacked ex-Prime Minister Liz Truss鈥檚 cell phone when she was foreign minister, The Mail reported
- Hackers were believed to have gained access to 鈥渢op-secret exchanges with international partners鈥�
LONDON: UK opposition politicians called for an investigation Saturday after a newspaper reported that suspected Kremlin agents had hacked ex-Prime Minister Liz Truss鈥檚 cell phone when she was foreign minister.
In an unconfirmed report, The Mail on Sunday cited unnamed security sources as saying that Truss鈥檚 personal mobile phone had been hacked 鈥渂y agents suspected of working for the Kremlin.鈥�
They are believed to have gained access to 鈥渢op-secret exchanges with international partners.鈥�
A government spokesperson said: 鈥淲e do not comment on individuals鈥� security arrangements鈥� but added that there are 鈥渞obust systems in place to protect against cyber threats.鈥�
The hackers also gained access to Truss鈥檚 conversations with her ally Kwasi Kwarteng criticizing Johnson, the report claimed.
Labour鈥檚 Yvette Cooper, who focuses on homeland security, said the report raises 鈥渋mmensely important national security issues鈥� including why and how the information was leaked.
鈥淚t is essential that all of these security issues are being investigated and addressed at the very highest level,鈥� she said.
Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesperson Layla Moran said: 鈥淲e need an urgent independent investigation to uncover the truth.鈥�
The BBC and Sky News said they had not been able to verify the report.
A source told the paper the 鈥渃ompromised鈥� phone has been placed inside a locked safe in a secure government location after up to a year鈥檚 messages were hacked including 鈥渉ighly sensitive discussions鈥� on the war in Ukraine.
The hacking was discovered in the summer when Truss was foreign minister and campaigning to become party leader and the next prime minister, the paper reported.
It claimed that 鈥渄etails were suppressed鈥� by then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Simon Case, his most senior policy adviser.
The reported incident comes after interior minister Suella Braverman was reappointed by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak following her resignation over a security breach, in which she reportedly sent a top-secret document to an MP via her personal email.
The article did not make clear on what basis Russia was suspected to be behind the alleged attack.
But it quoted a security source as saying: 鈥淚t takes a while to track who is behind attacks like these, but Russia tends to top the list.鈥�