Scottish MP Stewart McDonald has claimed his emails have been hacked by a Russian spy service.
The Scottish National Party (SNP) MP for Glasgow South told the BBC his emails were stolen and he feared they would be made public after he fell victim to a phishing scam.
Mr McDonald told the broadcaster the incident had occurred in early January when a hacking group believed to be linked to Russia’s intelligence services emailed him pretending to be a member of his staff.
After clicking on the document which was sent from the staff member’s actual email address, the MP entered his login details into a login page.
Several days later the same staff member informed Mr McDonald he had been locked out of his personal email account because of suspicious activity – and that he had never sent him the email with the login page.
Mr McDonald told the BBC he decided to go public to warn others of the risks and limit the potential damage as he waited to see what the hackers would do with the stolen material.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel