Commons Lobby in Tory security fiasco

Blogger discovered how to route emails through Tory press office

Some rather strange emails purporting to emanate from Conservative Central Office (CCO) have dropped in the basket of Computing's lobby correspondent, suggesting that the Tories are as poor as the government at IT security.

One unlikely missive suggested the recipient look up a part of the anatomy too rude to mention in a family newspaper.

It appears that the blogger "Guido Fawkes" discovered how to route emails through the Tory Press Office gateway that is used to file press releases to political journalists.

He (she or it) used the route to claim responsibility for Peter Hain's downfall and explained how he had done it to a political reporter on the Daily Telegraph - who then went on to publish a further email containing material demonstrating what could be done, and how, to the entire world.

The results has been a deluge of unsolicited emails from unclear sources, using the same method to hack into the Conservative email gateway. Some, in the spirit of inquiry, have been trying to discover if the security breach is real. Other have used the channel to explore their feelings towards Parliament's press lobby.

A CCO spokeswoman said: "Our IT department is on to it and is changing the settings so nothing more can get through. I am really, really sorry."