A TORY MSP has said that a “hostile” Russian group was behind a cyber attack on his website.
Murdo Fraser’s website had to be taken down because of what he deemed a “cowardly attack on democracy”.
It comes in the same week that SNP MP Stewart McDonald said his office was targeted for a second time by a “hostile foreign state”.
The attack on Fraser’s (below) website was first identified by a dedicated cyber security team within the Conservative Party’s HQ in London.
The MSP’s website then had to be frozen, meaning it could not be accessed or updated, before eventually being given the go-ahead to go live again.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Fraser said: “This is a cowardly attack on democracy by what appears to be a Russian group hostile to any politicians supportive of Ukraine.
“I’m proud to support the people and government of Ukraine as they stand firm against Putin’s appalling invasion of their nation.
“Thankfully, the party’s online security team seem to have resolved the problem and my website is operating normally again, for the benefit of my constituents.”
Elsewhere, SNP MP McDonald said a researcher was contacted on networking site LinkedIn by an organisation which described itself as an independent think tank.
He said: “The message said they were ‘looking for paid contributors to a non-partisan British publication which aims to raise the profile of the devolved administrations political news’ and asked if he would be interested in writing for them. He did not reply.
“That message, as the National Cyber Security Centre has stated, is exactly the kind of introduction that hostile foreign states use to cultivate their sources.”
Writing in The Scotsman, the MP said “insidious state-linked actors” build relationships with aides “through flattery and finance, ensuring, all the while, a steady trickle of information”.
