UK Metropolitan Police deny hack of IT system, blames content distributor account security

The United Kingdom's Metropolitan Police denies the agency's IT system was hacked on Saturday (NZ Time), instead blaming the issue on its account with an online content distributor.

Earlier on Saturday, several emails and tweets were sent from accounts belonging to the police, containing gibberish as well as calls for the release of rapper Digga D. Newshub was sent several emails from the Metropolitan Police press account containing the messages.

The agency acknowledged the issue and the strange tweets were soon deleted.

In a statement since, the police apologised to subscribers and followers for the remarks, but said the agency's own IT infrastructure had not been hacked.

Instead, it lay blame with a security issue relating to access to the agency's MyNewsDesk account.

"The Met Police Press Bureau uses an online provider called MyNewsDesk to issue news releases and other content," the statement said.

"When a story is published via MyNewsDesk, it appears on the Met’s website and Twitter accounts and generates an email to those who’ve subscribed to receive our news updates.

"While we are still working to establish exactly what happened, we have begun making changes to our access arrangements to MyNewsDesk."

The statement also said the police were assessing what criminal offences had occurred.

A MyNewsDesk spokesperson told Newshub: "We have a team that is currently investigating what happened, together with the Metropolitan Police, and we will take the necessary corrective measures."

Newshub.