The public Wi-Fi network has been shut down while the incident is investigated

Nov 27, 2013 15:50 GMT  ·  By

The European Parliament has switched off its public Wi-Fi after hackers targeted the communications between the network and personal smartphones with a man-in-the-middle attack.

According to an advisory, some personal email accounts of members of the European Parliament may have been compromised. Impacted individuals have been notified and asked to change their passwords.

MEPs have been instructed to contact the EP’s ITEC Service Desk in order to have digital certificates installed. The certificates will allow them to connect to the private Wi-Fi network which remains available during the time the incident is investigated.

The EP will implement additional measures to secure communications. In the meantime, MEPs are advised to change their European Parliament IT passwords as soon as possible.

They’ve also been told not to accept connections through the organization’s public Wi-Fi, and avoid connecting to insecure Wi-Fi networks in hotels, airports and train stations.