14 DAY TRIAL // The UK GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters) has revealed that hackers linked to the ISIS terrorist group have managed to intercept sensitive emails exchanged by ministers of the British cabinet, as The Mirror is reporting.
According to GCHQ insiders, the system was not fully breached, but the hackers were able to access and read exchanged emails.
Officials only confirmed Theresa May, the Home Secretary, as a sure victim of the incident, but emails of other senior ministers from David Cameron's staff are presumed to have been compromised as well.
The compromised emails may have been used in a failed attempt to kill the Queen
The GCHQ says that information about events in which government officials and members of the Royal family have participated have been exposed.
Earlier this week, UK forces killed a British-born jihadist in Syria after the country's espionage agencies discovered a plot to kill the Queen. Rumors have it that these two incidents are linked, and the jihadist may have been able to plan out his attack using the information acquired from the hack.
According to The Daily Mail, this was the first time when an ISIS cyber-attack targeted British officials. Previous attacks were usually aimed at the American and French governments.
The US previously killed the Islamic State's chief hacker
At the end of August, US forces killed Junaid Hussain, the leader of the Islamic State Hacking Division, in a drone strike, putting a serious dent in the Islamic State's cyber-warfare capabilities.
While the Islamic State does not possess the same military capabilities of Western countries, its online presence is more than formidable.
Many military and tech experts attributed its quick growth and expansion into nearby and Western states to an aggressive recruiting campaign on social media, and more specifically on Twitter.
The social network has been fighting back in recent months, closing tens of thousands of accounts linked to ISIS militants.