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LONDON (Reuters) – Conservative Party of British Prime Minister Theresa May is investigating a data breach that allows members of the public to connect to a smartphone app as senior officials and view their personal data.
Brandon Lewis arrives at a cabinet meeting in Downing Street, London, September 12, 2017. REUTERS / Hannah Mckay
"Any violation is a serious violation, which is why we are fully investigating this issue and taking it very seriously," party chairman Brandon Lewis told Sky News on Sunday.
On the first day of the party's annual conference, which the app was encouraging, Lewis said a limited number of users had been affected.
On Saturday, a Guardian newspaper columnist, Dawn Foster, discovered that a flaw in the application allowed users to log in as a conference attendee simply by entering an email address.
Lewis stated that the violation had been reported to the Office of the Information Commissioner, the UK's data agency, and that the breach had been cut within 30 minutes of the party's notification.
When it was active, the flaw meant that the mobile phone numbers of all conference participants – legislators, including government ministers, party members, and journalists – were accessible. On Twitter, Foster showed how she could connect to the system as former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.
Report by Kylie MacLellan, written by William James, edited by Elizabeth Piper
