The end of this week is most likely going to be an awkward one for the UK’s Health Secretary Matt Hancock after CCTV footage was published of him kissing an aide despite being a married man. But there are perhaps more significant questions that need to be raised in light of the incident. Namely, how on Earth did a UK tabloid newspaper get their hands on secure CCTV footage of inside Whitehall?
The footage appears to have been taken from CCTV somewhere inside the Health Secretary’s offices inside Whitehall. Needless to say, such footage should be secured and not available for just anyone to peruse.
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Yet specific footage of an intimate encounter between Matt Hancock and a senior aide has made its way into the hands of The Sun newspaper, who have not explained how they managed to get a hold of the compromising video.
And while Matt Hancock himself will likely have to explain his actions to certain people, there are others that are responsible for cybersecurity over at Whitehall who will also no doubt be facing some pretty serious questions as well.
The National Security concerns here are clear. There is – no doubt – many classified goings-on within the various offices inside Whitehall, and the ever-present CCTV could very well have likely picked up other sensitive goings-on as well.
In this case the footage made its way to tabloid media resulting in some embarrassing news coverage. But what if sensitive footage made its way into the hands of foreign entities. Russia? China? Or even North Korea? Such video footage could be invaluable to other country’s and risks the national security of the United Kingdom.
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Also, embarrassing footage akin to these photos could open up the possibility that senior ministers and other politicians could be made vulnerable to blackmail and extortion.
Many are calling upon the UK’s security services to launch an investigation into exactly how such footage made its way to a newspaper. It will not have gone unnoticed by various entities that such a security breach has occurred and if it’s happened once it could always happen again with the possibility of more serious consequences.
Questions need to be asked and answered. Was Whitehall’s cybersecurity compromised? Are there devices in Whitehall intercepting traffic (a.k.a. Man in the Middle attacks.) Are there people working in the cybersecurity department taking bribes or perhaps being extorted themselves?
In this case, only time will tell.