Hackers hit MI5 website

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 30 Jul 2009 at 14:36

Hackers have attacked the MI5 website in an attempt to gather information on people using the site.

The attack was confirmed by the Home Office which called it a "small issue".

A spokesperson says the hackers targeted a vulnerability in the site's embedded Google search engine with a cross-site scripting attack. They were looking to inject code onto the site and redirect users to malicious pages, though the spokesperson denies they got this far.

She was also keen to point out that the website is not hosted on MI5's own servers, and thus sensitive data was never under threat. The issue has now been resolved.

"MI5 takes security very seriously. Its website is secure and hosted in a high security environment," says the spokesperson.

She wasn't willing to offer any further information on the attack, beyond the fact that a group calling itself "Team Elite" is claiming responsibility.