Incident: Cyber Security Incident at UK Foreign Office Requires Urgent Support

Published Date: 2022-02-08

Postmortem Analysis
Timeline 1. The software failure incident at the Foreign Office, which was a serious cyber security incident, occurred sometime before the public tender document was published on January 12 this year [125028]. Therefore, the software failure incident likely occurred in early January 2022.
System The system that failed in the software failure incident reported in Article 125028 was the cyber security system implemented by the Foreign Office. The failure led to a serious cyber security incident where the Foreign Office was targeted by hackers. The specific components or models of the cyber security system that failed are not disclosed in the article. Therefore, the specific products, systems, components, models, or versions that failed are unknown.
Responsible Organization 1. The hacking attempt on the Foreign Office was believed to have been carried out by cyber criminals, although the specific entity responsible was not disclosed in the article [125028].
Impacted Organization 1. The Foreign Office [125028]
Software Causes 1. The software cause of the failure incident was a serious cyber security incident involving hacking attempts targeting the Foreign Office's systems [125028].
Non-software Causes 1. The Foreign Office was targeted in a serious cyber security incident, indicating a lack of robust cybersecurity measures [125028]. 2. The incident involved a hacking attempt, suggesting potential vulnerabilities in the Foreign Office's network defenses [125028]. 3. The breach led to the need for urgent support for remediation and investigation, highlighting a possible lack of proactive security measures [125028]. 4. The incident was not disclosed in detail, indicating a lack of transparency in reporting security incidents [125028]. 5. The involvement of cyber-security firm BAE Systems Applied Intelligence suggests a reliance on external expertise for handling security incidents [125028].
Impacts 1. The software failure incident at the Foreign Office resulted in the need for 'urgent support' for remediation and investigation, requiring services from a cyber-security firm, BAE Systems Applied Intelligence, costing over £467,000 [125028]. 2. The incident led to the publication of a tender document revealing the hacking attempt, which was believed to have been published online accidentally and was later removed [125028]. 3. While it is not confirmed if any secret information was obtained by the hackers, the incident raised concerns about potential breaches of sensitive government data and the need for robust cyber security defenses [125028].
Preventions 1. Implementation of robust cybersecurity measures such as regular security audits, penetration testing, and network monitoring could have helped prevent the cyber security incident at the Foreign Office [125028]. 2. Enhanced employee training on cybersecurity best practices and awareness of potential phishing attempts could have reduced the likelihood of a successful hacking attack [125028]. 3. Timely software updates and patches to address known vulnerabilities could have mitigated the risk of exploitation by cyber criminals [125028].
Fixes 1. Implementing stronger cyber security measures and defenses to identify and prevent potential cyber attacks [125028]
References 1. The public tender document published on the Foreign Office's website [Article 125028] 2. The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office spokesperson [Article 125028] 3. The publication The Stack [Article 125028]

Software Taxonomy of Faults

Category Option Rationale
Recurring unknown The articles do not provide information about the software failure incident happening again at either the same organization or at multiple organizations.
Phase (Design/Operation) design (a) The software failure incident in Article 125028 is related to the design phase. The incident involved a serious cyber security breach targeting the Foreign Office, which was revealed through a public tender document published accidentally on their website. The document indicated that urgent support was required for remediation and investigation of the cyber security incident, which required business analyst and technical architect support to analyze the authority cyber security incident. The incident was handled by cyber-security firm BAE Systems Applied Intelligence, which received a substantial amount for its work in dealing with the hacking attack [125028]. (b) The articles do not provide specific information about the software failure incident being related to the operation phase.
Boundary (Internal/External) within_system, outside_system (a) within_system: The software failure incident at the Foreign Office was due to a serious cyber security incident, indicating a failure within the system's security defenses. The incident involved a hacking attempt that targeted the Foreign Office, leading to the need for urgent support for remediation and investigation [125028]. The document published about the incident did not disclose specific details of what happened or who carried it out, suggesting an internal system vulnerability that was exploited by external actors. The incident required business analyst and technical architect support to analyze the cyber security incident, indicating an internal response to an internal failure [125028].
Nature (Human/Non-human) human_actions (a) The software failure incident in this case was not directly attributed to non-human actions. It was a result of a serious cyber security incident, indicating that the failure was caused by deliberate hacking attempts by cyber criminals [125028]. (b) Human actions played a significant role in this software failure incident. The incident was a result of a hacking attack carried out by unknown individuals, leading to the need for urgent support for remediation and investigation. Additionally, the document revealing the hacking attempt was published online by accident, indicating human error in the disclosure of the incident [125028].
Dimension (Hardware/Software) software (a) The articles do not provide information about the software failure incident occurring due to hardware-related factors. (b) The software failure incident reported in the articles is related to a serious cyber security incident targeting the Foreign Office. The incident involved a hacking attempt, where cyber criminals gained unauthorized access to the Foreign Office's network. The incident required urgent support for remediation and investigation, with a cyber-security firm called in to deal with the attack [125028].
Objective (Malicious/Non-malicious) malicious (a) The software failure incident reported in Article 125028 was malicious in nature. The incident involved a serious cyber security attack on the Foreign Office, which was described as a hacking attempt. The incident required urgent support for remediation and investigation, and a cyber-security firm, BAE Systems Applied Intelligence, was called in to deal with the attack. The document revealing the hacking attempt was published online by accident, and it is believed that no secret information was obtained by the hackers. The incident was not disclosed in detail, and the Foreign Office spokesperson mentioned that they have systems in place to detect and defend against potential cyber incidents. Additionally, the article mentions that foreign governments, including Russia and China, are often accused of major espionage campaigns targeting other states for secret information related to politics, diplomacy, and current events. This indicates that the software failure incident was malicious in nature, involving a deliberate attempt to breach the Foreign Office's cyber security defenses and potentially gain unauthorized access to sensitive information [125028].
Intent (Poor/Accidental Decisions) poor_decisions, accidental_decisions (a) The software failure incident reported in Article 125028 was related to poor_decisions. The incident involved a serious cyber security breach at the Foreign Office, where a document revealing the hacking attempt was published online apparently by mistake. The document did not disclose details of the incident or the perpetrators but mentioned the urgent need for support for remediation and investigation. The incident highlighted the potential consequences of poor decisions in handling cyber security, such as accidental publication of sensitive information [125028].
Capability (Incompetence/Accidental) accidental (a) The software failure incident in Article 125028 was not attributed to development incompetence. The incident was related to a serious cyber security incident targeting the Foreign Office, which was believed to have been published online by accident. The document revealing the hacking attempt was stated to have been published online by accident, and it has since been removed. The incident did not indicate any incompetence in the development process. (b) The software failure incident in Article 125028 was accidental in nature. The document revealing the hacking attempt was believed to have been published online by accident. It was not intentional but rather an accidental disclosure of the cyber security incident targeting the Foreign Office. The incident was not caused by intentional actions but rather by a mistake in publishing the document.
Duration unknown The articles do not provide specific information about the duration of the software failure incident related to the cyber security incident at the Foreign Office. Therefore, it is unknown whether the incident was permanent or temporary based on the information provided in the articles.
Behaviour crash, omission, other (a) crash: The article reports a serious cyber security incident targeting the Foreign Office, which led to the system losing its state and not performing its intended functions. The incident required urgent support for remediation and investigation [125028]. (b) omission: The system omitted to perform its intended functions during the cyber security incident, as detailed in the public tender document that did not disclose what happened or who carried out the attack [125028]. (c) timing: There is no specific mention of timing-related failures in the articles. (d) value: The incident did not involve the system performing its intended functions incorrectly; rather, it was a cyber security breach that compromised the system's security [125028]. (e) byzantine: The system did not exhibit behavior characterized by inconsistent responses and interactions in the reported incident. (f) other: The other behavior exhibited by the system in this incident was the accidental publication of a document revealing the hacking attempt, which was later removed. This behavior could be classified as an unintentional disclosure of sensitive information [125028].

IoT System Layer

Layer Option Rationale
Perception None None
Communication None None
Application None None

Other Details

Category Option Rationale
Consequence theoretical_consequence (a) unknown (b) unknown (c) unknown (d) unknown (e) unknown (f) unknown (g) no_consequence (h) theoretical_consequence: The software failure incident in the Foreign Office, which was a serious cyber security incident, did not result in any secret information being obtained by the hackers. The incident was detected, and urgent support was required for remediation and investigation. The potential consequences of the incident, such as the breach leading to harm or property loss, were not mentioned in the articles [125028].
Domain government (a) The failed system was related to the government industry. The Foreign Office experienced a serious cyber security incident, as reported in the tender document accidentally published on their website [125028]. The incident required urgent support for remediation and investigation, with a cyber-security firm called in to deal with the hacking attack. The document did not disclose specific details of the incident, but it is known that the Foreign Office was the target of the cyber security breach. The incident involved the need for business analyst and technical architect support to analyze the cyber security incident [125028].

Sources

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