In a letter to party workers, Niall Solokoo, executive director, elections and campaigns, said: “Yesterday afternoon our security systems identified that, in a very short period of time, there were large-scale and sophisticated attacks on Labour Party platforms which had the intention of taking our systems entirely offline. “Every single one of these attempts failed due to our robust security systems and the integrity of all our plaforms and data was maintained.” However, Mr Sookoo said the effect of the increased security protocols which the attacks had required to be put into place had reduced the full functionality of the party’s campaign systems.
Mr Sookoo said: “This is temporary and I anticipate the full functionality returning this morning.
“I appreciate this is frustrating but I am sure you will understand why we have taken this action.”
All print deadlines had been extended by 24 hours, and Mr Sookoo, who paid tribute to quick-thinking staff at the party’s headquarters, said there should be no knock-on effect for deliveries.
Labour Party spokesman confirmed: “We have experienced a sophisticated and large scale cyber attack on Labour digital platforms.
“We took swift action and these attempts failed due to our robust security systems.
“The integrity of all our platforms was maintained and we are confident that no data breach occurred.
“Our security procedures have slowed down some of our campaign activities, but these were restored this morning and we are back up to full speed. We have reported the matter to the National Cyber Security Centre.
”Labour is out campaigning hard both on and offline for a Labour government that will bring the real change our country needs.”
Rowland Manthorpe, Sky News’s technology correspondent, disputed Labour’s description, tweeting: “I’m told the cyber attack on Labour was a DDOS attack.
“Digital vandalism not a “sophisticated” surgical attack.”
(More to follow)
