Government ministers' emails were 'hacked by jihadists' but 'no security breaches occurred'

Could this be the first ever hack to take place with no security breach as a result? Err, No

Government ministers' email accounts have allegedly been hacked by potential extremists, according to a report in the Daily Telegraph, even though the paper later claimed that a security breach did not occur.

The paper said that an investigation by the intelligence agency GCHQ had found that members of the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (Isil) had been targeting communications and data held by senior ministers, including the Home Secretary, Theresa May.

Information contained in emails and diaries of senior ministers could have revealed details of events they were attending - and Whitehall security chiefs were warned in May about this particular cyber threat.

However, the Daily Telegraph is unclear on the exact details of the cyber threat - and in fact the report begins by claiming that emails had been hacked, but ends with the suggestion that "no security breaches occurred".

"It is unclear what information the extremists were able to access, but it is understood that no security breaches occurred," the report states.

It is impossible for emails to have been hacked and at the same time for no security breach to have occurred. The above statement within the report is a huge contradiction.

The Telegraph article then goes on to state that "officials were told to tighten security procedures, including changing passwords". If the government's top officials had really been hacked, surely they would have had to do more than just change their passwords? Especially as the paper suggested that the attack was a "sophisticated espionage operation".

It sounds as if the Daily Telegraph has merely published a "non-story", but could there be more to this than reporting hearsay? Probably, but GCHQ has never commented on such intelligence matters, and without supporting information, the story makes little sense.