It is worth noting that a report from FCO Services highlighted that no DDOS attack was ongoing at the
time of the incident.
Lessons learned
The government tells us that the voter registration process for the Brexit referendum was not ‘hacked’ and that the crash of the registration site was due to unprecedented demand…so why is the BBC giving a claim that the system was hacked such high credibility and prominence when even in the MP’s report it is a very minor claim coming after a long explanation of why the system actually crashed?…Why is this the claim that the BBC zeros in on?….
A voter registration site that crashed in the run-up to last year’s EU referendum could have been targeted by a foreign cyber attack, MPs say.
The “register to vote” site crashed on 7 June last year just before the deadline for people to sign up to vote.
The UK government and electoral administrators blamed a surge in demand after a TV debate.
But MPs on the parliamentary Public Administration Committee say a foreign cyber attack could not be ruled out.
The MP’s evidence for that?…
Although the Committee has no direct evidence, it considers that it is important to be aware of the potential for foreign interference in elections or referendums. The report on lessons learned from the website crash described it as “technical in nature, gaps in technical ownership and risk management contributed to the problem, and prevented it from being mitigated in advance”. However the crash had indications of being a DDOS (distributed denial of service) ‘attack’.
No, no it didn’t…there were no indications of a DDOS attack and the MPs provide absolutely none to back up that claim….a claim that the government itself denies…..
It is worth noting that a report from FCO Services highlighted that no DDOS attack was ongoing at the time of the incident.
The BBC itself acknowledges that and yet puts the claim up in the headline…
“There is no evidence to suggest malign intervention. We conducted a full review into the outage and have applied the lessons learned. We will ensure these are applied for all future polls and online services.”
Cybersecurity experts are sceptical.
“I think there’s lots of conjecture,” says Ollie Whitehouse at NCC Group. “It appears to be one committee’s opinion but with no supporting evidence.“
The MP’s only ‘evidence’ is pure speculation…
‘…it’s not unreasonable, given there’s quite a lot of this going on in other countries, that this could have happened in this case.”
Despite all that being nonsense the BBC still gives credence to the idea in its summing up…
The committee called on the government to set up a new Cyber Security Centre to monitor and contain potential attacks on UK elections and referendums – particularly foreign attempts to influence public opinion and disrupt the democratic process.
“The US and UK understanding of ‘cyber’ is predominantly technical and computer-network based,” said the report.
“For example, Russia and China use a cognitive approach based on understanding of mass psychology and of how to exploit individuals.
“The implications of this different understanding of cyber-attack, as purely technical or as reaching beyond the digital to influence public opinion, for the interference in elections and referendums are clear,” the report added.
Legend will slowly become ‘fact’ as the BBC knows full well and this no doubt will be the subject of many a BBC programme with the presenters pushing the idea, keep spreading doubt and confusion, that this was ‘possibly’ a cyber attack whatever the evidence may show in an attempt to undermine the legitimacy of Brexit….just as the New European is doing…
A voter registration website that crashed in the run-up to the Brexit vote may have been brought down by foreign hackers.
The Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee (PACAC) said it was deeply concerned about the allegations of foreign interference in last year’s EU referendum vote.
While the committee did not identify who may have been responsible, it noted that both Russia and China use an approach to cyber attacks based on an understanding of mass psychology and of how to exploit individuals.
The warning comes amid repeated claims that Russia has sought to interfere in foreign elections, including last year’s US presidential election.
The official voter registration website on crashed June 7 last year just hours before the deadline for people to sign up to vote in the referendum.
The BBC et al knows well the time honoured practice of telling a big lie often and loudly until it becomes fact.
The BBC is busy doing what it does best…undermining democracy…the enemy of the people? I’d say so.