The UK's Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO) was the target of a "serious cyber-security incident", it has emerged according to reports from the BBC. Photo: Internet Source

The details emerged via a document asking a security firm for help. Photo: Getty Images

VINO continues to engage law enforcement agencies both locally and overseas for help with investigating the cyber security incident. Photo: VINO

The publication stated that the details of the hacking came as a result of a tender document published on a government website, seemingly by mistake which revealed that cyber-security firm BAE Systems Applied Intelligence was called on for "urgent support".

According to the BBC, unidentified hackers got inside the FCDO systems, but were detected during the breach.

Cyberattack was detected 

BBC reports that a spokesperson for the FCDO told the publication, "We do not comment on security but have systems in place to detect and defend against potential cyber incidents."

The report further states, “It is not believed that any classified or highly sensitive material was breached. It is also not clear when the incident took place, but the contract finished on 12 January of this year. The contract was valued at £467,325.”

According to the report, the revelations of the breach came as a number of foreign states have been accused of major espionage campaigns in the past, including Russia and China, and foreign ministries of a number of states are regularly targeted - and often breached.

It added that foreign governments are frequently the target of cyber-espionage campaigns by other states seeking access to information about diplomacy and current events.

Who is behind attacks? 

While Russia and China have been accused of espionage campaigns, the US and UK intelligence agencies have also been accused of carrying out similar activity around the world, as revealed by former US National Security Agency employee Edward Snowden in 2014.

Last month it emerged that the Canadian Foreign Ministry had been targeted.

The US and UK have separately also issued warnings of the risk of the conflict of Ukraine spilling over into cyber-attacks against businesses and government systems.

The first known breach of a UK government network occurred in 2003 when the Foreign Office was hit by hackers, thought to be linked to China, using an email relating to Tibet to get inside government systems.

VINO a victim of cyber attacks 

Just last week, January 31, 2022, Virgin Islands News Online (VINO) was the victim of a cyber attack where pornographic content was displayed on the website homepage and within articles and ad placements.

The following day, the attack resulted in content management challenges where editorial staff were unable to make new posts and edits on the website before partial control was regained. 

To date, VINO has also ramped up its security and continues to engage law enforcement agencies both locally and overseas for help with investigating the cyber security incident.