ORLANDO, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 1, 2023--

Metropolitan Police chiefs should carry out a thorough investigation of the force’s cyber security practices following an IT breach, industry experts have said. Scotland Yard said on Saturday that it had been made aware of “unauthorised access to the IT system of one of its suppliers”. The company in question had access to names, ranks, photos, vetting levels and pay numbers for officers and staff. The force is now working with the company to understand if there has been any security breach relating to its data, and was unable to confirm how many personnel might be affected. Cyber security experts said the possible data breach is “extremely worrying” but unsurprising as cyber attackers frequently target third-party companies. The Met Police are extremely good at keeping their own data secure, but they do use third parties. As they have to use these parties, if they aren’t up to date with their own security then that becomes a weakness that could be targeted Jake Moore, ESET Jake Moore, global cyber security adviser for software firm ESET, told the PA news agency: “This is another extremely worrying episode of what we seem to be seeing quite a lot of this year. “It’s just worrying to think these police forces are coming under attack in what I would suggest are relatively simple ways.” Mr Moore said the current suspected breach appears to have been “a targeted attack to test the security within the supply chain” where criminals were “looking for the weakest link”. He added: “The Met Police are extremely good at keeping their own data secure, but they do use third parties. “As they have to use these parties, if they aren’t up to date with their own security then that becomes a weakness that could be targeted.” Mr Moore suggested that current cyber security systems used by police forces, coupled with a lack of resources, may have led to flaws opening up. He said: “It’s not impossible to stop this. It’s to do with understanding where all your data is. “When you amalgamate systems, particularly when police forces join together, they tend not to understand completely where all their data is or who has access to it, and that can cause problems down the line. “They need to do a complete analysis on who has access, why they have access to their data, and to reduce all of those weak points as best they can. “It will take time – not necessarily too much money – but it will take resources and people power to mitigate this in the future, and hopefully something like this will shake the boots of all the chiefs around the country to wake up and act faster.” We do have best practices and guidelines in the industry on how to protect the systems, so maybe it comes down to someone conducting an external audit in the aftermath to see whether or not they are following these practices Professor Kevin Curran, Ulster University Kevin Curran, professor of cyber security at Ulster University, agreed that the breach is likely to be down to “a third-party supplier issue”. He said: “I’m not surprised really – data breaches are such a common occurrence and police are no exception. “They have the same resources as a lot of other companies, where any data systems which have external access to the internet are a risk.” Mr Curran said questions need to be asked about why third parties have access to such information, and if the Met has the right data classification methods in place. He added: “It boils down to resources. Every organisation has to allocate a percentage of their IT budget to cyber security. “It’s a publicly-funded organisation so there’s only a finite amount of resources you have, but we do have best practices and guidelines in the industry on how to protect the systems, so maybe it comes down to someone conducting an external audit in the aftermath to see whether or not they are following these practices.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Social media firms should reimburse online purchase scam victims – Barclays Hozier would consider striking over AI threat to music industry Snapchat experiences ‘temporary outage’ as My AI chatbot posts own Story

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More than €1 million (£860,000) has been raised for the family of a French police officer who shot dead a teenager at a traffic stop, an act that sparked riots across the country. That is far more than a similar campaign for the family of the boy killed. The online fundraiser started by Jean Messiha, an independent right-wing populist and former adviser to Marine Le Pen, has attracted donations from more than 52,000 people, while a fund set up by the policeman’s colleagues has raised around €60,000. The grandmother of Nahel Merzouk, 17, said she was heartbroken by the donations. “He took the life of my grandson. This man must pay, the same as everyone,” Nadia said to BFMTV about the officer. "Jean Messiha is playing with fire," said MP Eric Bothorel, part of President Emmanuel Macron’s ruling party. He called the fundraiser "indecent and scandalous". The justice minister, Eric Dupond-Moretti, said the fundraiser was “fuelling the fire” of unrest, describing it as a populist “instrumentalisation” of the teenager’s death. Meanwhile, a fundraiser for the victim’s family has raised more than €200,000 from around 100,000 donations. Nahel, who was of Algerian descent, was shot dead in his car by a police officer last Tuesday during a traffic check in Paris. The 38-year-old officer has been charged with voluntary homicide and remanded in custody. He claims he had the right to fire his gun to protect himself, a colleague and other road users. Prosecutor Pascal Prache concluded in an initial investigation that “the conditions for the legal use of the weapon were not met”. Thousands of protesters have been arrested since fiery clashes first erupted on Tuesday night in and around the Paris suburb of Nanterre where the teenager was killed. The family of the slain teen has pleaded for the unrest to “calm down” after council-run buildings including libraries and primary schools, and law enforcement stations were attacked, and vehicles and buildings were torched. The aunt of the slain teen told The Independent: “The family is very much against the violence. “But I hope that Nahel’s death is going to trigger some kind of change that means this never happens again.” Criminal lawyer Carole-Olivia Monteno called the fundraiser for the officer “insulting” to Nahel’s family. “It only increases hate where there’s too much of it already, its completely inappropriate and politically it does nothing,” she said. La France Insoumise MP Mathilde Panot also wrote: “Killing a young North African, in France in 2023, can earn you a lot of money.” While first secretary of the opposition Socialist Party Olivier Faure has called for it to be shut down. Itc omes after the home of a Paris mayor was raided and set alight on Sunday while his wife and children were inside sleeping. Vincent Jeanbrun, who is in charge of the area of L’Hay-les-Roses in the southern suburbs, said rockets were thrown as the family fled from the burning house in what he has called an “assassination attempt”. Mr Jeanbrun’s wife, Melanie Nowak, broke her leg as she attempted to flee through rocket fire and one of the couple’s two children was also injured. Overnight, 297 vehicles were torched across France, along with 34 buildings. Some 157 people were arrested, down from a peak of 3,880 arrests during the fiery night of June 30. More than 3,000 people have been detained overall since Nahel’s death. Hundreds of police and firefighters have also been injured in the violence, although authorities have not commented on how many protesters have been hurt. Read More Cleverly hails ‘close and friendly’ UK-EU ties in Brussels speech Leon Gautier, last member of French D-Day military commando, dies at 100 New June record for migrant Channel crossings France riots – live: Paris protests ease as family of teen killed in shooting makes desperate plea to rioters France riots: Aunt of teenager shot dead by police in Paris pleads for violence and looting to end Outrage and agony at funeral of boy whose ‘execution’ set France alight