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MAIL ON SUNDAY EXCLUSIVE: Liz Truss’s personal phone was hacked by Putin’s spies for top secret details of negotiations with allies and private messages she exchanged with Kwasi Kwarteng

  • Liz Truss’s personal phone found to have been hacked during leadership contest 
  • Thought to have been hacked by Russian agents suspected of working for Putin 
  • The downloaded messages included private exchanges with Kwasi Kwarteng 
  • Also included up to year’s worth of messages, some top-secret about Ukraine 
  • Source told Mail on Sunday phone was so compromised it is now in a locked safe
  • Read the full story on The Mail+ 

Liz Truss’s personal phone was hacked by agents suspected of working for Russian President Vladimir Putin, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

They gained access to top-secret details of negotiations with key international allies – as well as private messages she exchanged with her close friend Kwasi Kwarteng.

The hack was discovered during the summer Tory leadership campaign, when Ms Truss was Foreign Secretary, but the details were suppressed by the then Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the Cabinet Secretary Simon Case.

One source said the phone was so heavily compromised that it has now been placed in a locked safe inside a secure government location.

It is understood that the messages that fell into foreign hands included criticisms of Mr Johnson made by Ms Truss and Mr Kwarteng, leading to a potential risk of blackmail.

They are also believed to have included highly sensitive discussions with senior international foreign ministers about the war in Ukraine, including detailed discussions about arms shipments.

The former Prime Minister's phone was reportedly compromised while Ms Truss was Foreign Secretary

The former Prime Minister’s phone was reportedly compromised while Ms Truss was Foreign Secretary

In a statement released to the MoS on Saturday afternoon, a UK Government spokesperson said: ‘We do not comment on individuals’ security arrangements.’

But a source with knowledge of the incident said: ‘This caused absolute pandemonium. It is not a great look for the intelligence services if the Foreign Secretary’s phone can be so easily plundered for embarrassing personal messages by agents presumed to be working for Putin’s Russia.’

It is believed agents, suspected to have been working for Russian President Vladimir Putin, gained access to top-secret details of negotiations with key international allies

It is believed agents, suspected to have been working for Russian President Vladimir Putin, gained access to top-secret details of negotiations with key international allies

The security services have grown increasingly concerned about the threat posed by hackers working for hostile countries such as Russia and China, with mobile phones regarded as the ‘soft underbelly’ of the modern state.

An Israeli system called Pegasus, which gains access to phones without the owner knowing, can be launched on phones with a text message. It then runs in the background without the owner’s knowledge, gaining access to everything on the device and tracking the individual’s movements.

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Read the full story on The Mail+  

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