Malicious email in councillor's hacked account finds its way to Oireachtas network

Labour councillor for Dun Laoghaire Rathdown, Peter O’Brien, had his official email account hacked on Monday. File photo: iStock

The Oireachtas IT unit has scrambled to advise staff and elected representatives to be on guard after a malicious email entered their network from the hacked account of a local councillor.

The ICT unit within the Houses of the Oireachtas this afternoon mailed all staff within the complex about the mail, which was received from the account of Labour councillor for Dun Laoghaire Rathdown Peter O’Brien.

Mr O'Brien's official email account was hacked on Monday, with mails from his address arriving into Oireachtas accounts between 2pm and 3pm yesterday afternoon. The mails had the subject heading DLRCOCO.

Staff within the Oireachtas have been told not to open any attachment, or to click on any link, coming from the councillor’s address.

“The ICT unit have become aware of a spam email being sent to some users,” the Oireachtas IT unit wrote earlier this afternoon.

“This mail has passed through our mail filters with the subject line DLRCOCO or similar. The councillor’s email has been hacked. This is not a legitimate email. It contains a malicious link,” it said.

Dun Laoghaire Rathdown’s cyber security officer made contact with the Oireachtas earlier today to inform it of the “corrupt” email.

“We have taken all necessary steps to secure the email account but if you did happen to click on the attached link I would recommend to contact your IT Dept,” they said.

“If you have no access to an IT Dept I would strongly recommend you change your password immediately and scan your device for any suspicious activity.”