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Parliament has been hit by a cyber attack, officials at Westminster say.

The "sustained" hack began on Friday night, prompting officials to disable remote access to the emails of MPs, peers and their staff as a safeguard.

The parliamentary authorities said hackers had mounted a "determined attack" on all user accounts "in an attempt to identify weak passwords".

Government sources say it appeared the attack has been contained but it will "remain vigilant".

A parliamentary spokeswoman said they were investigating the attack and liaising with the National Cyber Security Centre.

She said: "We have discovered unauthorised attempts to access accounts of parliamentary networks users...

"Parliament has robust measures in place to protect all of our accounts and systems, and we are taking the necessary steps to protect and secure our network.

"As a precaution we have temporarily restricted remote access to the network."

'Not a surprise'

IT services on the parliamentary estate are working normally and a message sent to MPs urges them to be "extra vigilant".

But a number of MPs have confirmed to the BBC they are not able to access their parliamentary email accounts outside of the Westminster estate.

It comes just over a month after 48 of England's NHS trusts were hit by a cyber-attack.

International Trade Secretary Liam Fox said: "We have seen reports in the last few days of even Cabinet ministers' passwords being for sale online.

"We know that our public services are attacked so it is not at all surprising that there should be an attempt to hack into parliamentary emails.

"And it's a warning to everybody, whether they are in Parliament or elsewhere, that they need to do everything possible to maintain their own cyber security."

The latest attack was publicly revealed by Liberal Democrat peer Lord Rennard on Twitter as he asked his followers to send any "urgent messages" to him by text.

Henry Smith, Tory MP for Crawley, later tweeted: "Sorry no parliamentary email access today - we're under cyber attack from Kim Jong Un, (Vladimir) Putin or a kid in his mom's basement or something..."

The government's National Security Strategy said in 2015 that the threat from cyber-attacks from both organised crime and foreign intelligence agencies was one of the "most significant risks to UK interests".

The National Cyber Security Centre, which is part of intelligence agency GCHQ, started its operations in October last year.

The National Crime Agency said it was working with the NCSC but the centre was "leading the operational response".</s>Britain's Parliament says it is investigating a cyberattack on users' accounts.</s>LONDON -- British officials were investigating a cyberattack Saturday on the country's Parliament after discovering "unauthorized attempts to access parliamentary user accounts."

A statement from the House of Commons said that as a precaution, remote email access for members has been disabled in order to protect the network from hackers.

"As a result, some Members of Parliament (lawmakers) and staff cannot access their email accounts outside of Westminster," it said, adding that IT services at Parliament itself are working normally.

It was not immediately clear how many people were affected or what the extent of the damage was.

An email sent all those affected described a "sustained and determined attack on all parliamentary user accounts in an attempt to identify weak passwords," according to The Guardian newspaper. "These attempts specifically were trying to gain access to our emails."

Liberal Democrat Chris Rennard said on Twitter that urgent messages should be sent by text message because parliamentary emails may not work remotely.

The National Cyber Security Center and the National Crime Agency are looking into the incident.

Liam Fox, Britain's International Trade Secretary, told ITV News that the attack was "a warning to everyone: We need more security and better passwords. You wouldn't leave your door open at night."</s>British officials were investigating a cyberattack on the country’s Parliament after discovering “unauthorized attempts to access parliamentary user accounts,” the AP reports.

An email sent all those affected described a “sustained and determined attack on all parliamentary user accounts in an attempt to identify weak passwords. These attempts specifically were trying to gain access to our emails.”</s>LONDON — British officials are investigating a cyberattack on the country’s Parliament after discovering “unauthorized attempts to access parliamentary user accounts.”

A spokeswoman for the House of Commons said Saturday that officials are working with the National Cyber Security Center to secure the computer network. She added that remote email access for members has been disabled to protect the network.

A statement said: “We have systems in place to protect member and staff accounts and are taking the necessary steps to protect our systems.”

It was not immediately clear how many lawmakers were affected.</s>A British flag flaps in the wind near Big Ben's clock tower in front of the Houses of Parliament in central London, on March 29, 2017. According to a statement released from the House of Commons Saturday June 24, 2017, British officials are investigating an alleged cyberattack.

LONDON — British officials were investigating a cyberattack Saturday on the country's Parliament after discovering "unauthorized attempts to access parliamentary user accounts."

A statement from the House of Commons said that as a precaution, remote email access for members has been disabled in order to protect the network from hackers.

"As a result, some Members of Parliament (lawmakers) and staff cannot access their email accounts outside of Westminster," it said, adding that IT services at Parliament itself are working normally.

It was not immediately clear how many people were affected or what the extent of the damage was.

An email sent all those affected described a "sustained and determined attack on all parliamentary user accounts in an attempt to identify weak passwords," according to The Guardian newspaper. "These attempts specifically were trying to gain access to our emails."

Liberal Democrat Chris Rennard said on Twitter that urgent messages should be sent by text message because parliamentary emails may not work remotely.

The National Cyber Security Center and the National Crime Agency are looking into the incident.

Liam Fox, Britain's International Trade Secretary, told ITV News that the attack was "a warning to everyone: We need more security and better passwords. You wouldn't leave your door open at night."</s>Hackers hit the email system of the British Parliament in an apparent attempt to break into the accounts of hundreds of MPs, Lords and their staffs, according to a House of Commons spokesperson.

Liberal Democrat peer Lord Rennard also confirmed the attack on Twitter.

The attack prompted security services to shut down access to anyone outside the Palace of Westminster, where the two houses of Parliament meet.

A spokesperson for the House of Commons said "unauthorized attempts" were made to gain access to parliamentary email account, The Independent reported.

The spokesperson said Parliament was working with the National Cyber Security Centre to secure the computer network investigate the incident.

Members of the House of Commons and Lords were informed of the cyberattack Friday night and said they were unable to gain access to their emails on Saturday, The Telegraph reported. It is unclear the exact number of lawmakers affected.</s>Hackers hit the email system of the British Parliament in an apparent attempt to break into the accounts of hundreds of MPs, Lords and their staffs, according to a House of Commons spokesperson.

Liberal Democrat peer Lord Rennard also confirmed the attack on Twitter.

The attack prompted security services to shut down access to anyone outside the Palace of Westminster, where the two houses of Parliament meet.

A spokesperson for the House of Commons said "unauthorized attempts" were made to gain access to parliamentary email account, The Independent reported.

The spokesperson said Parliament was working with the National Cyber Security Centre to secure the computer network investigate the incident.

Members of the House of Commons and Lords were informed of the cyberattack Friday night and said they were unable to gain access to their emails on Saturday, The Telegraph reported. It is unclear the exact number of lawmakers affected.

An email sent to all users of a parliamentary address alerting them to the intrusion said “unusual activity and evidence of an attempted cyber attack” had been discovered, Huffington Post UK reported.

“Closer investigation by our team confirmed that hackers were carrying out a sustained and determined attack on all parliamentary user accounts in attempt to identify weak passwords,” the security message said, according to the Huffington Post UK.

The attack comes days after reports that Russian hackers had put passwords belonging to senior ministers, ambassadors and senior police officers up for sale online.</s>(LONDON) — British officials were investigating a cyberattack Saturday on the country's Parliament after discovering "unauthorized attempts to access parliamentary user accounts."

A spokeswoman for the House of Commons said the incident affected lawmakers and other parliamentary staff's ability to log on its system and use their emails. It was not immediately clear how many people were affected or what the extent of the damage was.

A statement said that remote email access for members has been disabled in order to protect the network.

"We have systems in place to protect member and staff accounts and are taking the necessary steps to protect our systems," it said.

Liberal Democrat Chris Rennard said on Twitter that urgent messages should be sent by text message because parliamentary emails may not work remotely.

The National Cyber Security Center and the National Crime Agency are looking into the incident.</s>LONDON (AP) — British officials are investigating a cyberattack on the country’s Parliament after discovering “unauthorized attempts to access parliamentary user accounts.”

A spokeswoman for the House of Commons said Saturday that officials are working with the National Cyber Security Center to secure the computer network. She added that remote email access for members has been disabled to protect the network.

A statement said: “We have systems in place to protect member and staff accounts and are taking the necessary steps to protect our systems.”

It was not immediately clear how many lawmakers were affected.

 Check back for updates

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Police in the United Kingdom are investigating a cyberattack on the Houses of Parliament after an attempt was made to gain unauthorised access to politicians' email accounts.