A Dorset MP has condemned the “scurrilous” cyber-attack on Westminster.

Hackers hit the Westminster network last week in an attempt to break into the email accounts of MPs, peers and their staff. 

Parliamentary officials later confirmed that up to 90 email accounts were compromised during the attack.

This means that only one per cent of the system's 9,000 users were directly impacted by what one parliamentary spokesperson described as a "determined and sustained" attack, which targeted Westminster email accounts with weak passwords.

Concerns have been raised that sensitive information sent via email between MPs and their constituents may have been breached by the hack,

Concerns have also been raised about potential blackmail attempts.

The incident is currently being investigated to see if any data has been lost.

Richard Drax, MP for South Dorset said that the incident was part of a “scurrilous” and “appalling” attempt to break down trust and confidence between MPs and their constituents. 

He said: “The intent is always bad and I condemn all who do this.”

He added: “I am glad that in this case it does not seem to have had much success at all.” 

Both Mr Drax MP and Oliver Letwin, MP for West Dorset, said they were concerned about the attempted hacking of email accounts in Westminster, but added they did not believe they themselves had been affected – or their constituents. 

Mr Drax said: “I do not believe I have been hacked and confident information is not anywhere other than where it should be, so I am confident that we are OK.”

Mr Letwin said: "This is obviously very concerning. I am not currently aware off any hack into my own account, but I am keeping a close eye on the defensive operation underway in Parliament's IT department, and I shall alert individual constituents if there is any sign of any of them being affected."

Mr Drax said that having a good password was clearly a key factor in keeping accounts secure, and that passwords which are easy to remember are also easy to hack – a fact he had taken on board from the incident. 

He said: “These hackers are very adept at breaking into extremely secure sites. All I can do is take every reasonable step to make sure we are safe from hackers.”

It has been speculated that Russia might be behind the cyber-attack, but Mr Drax was cautious about leaping to such conclusions. 

He said: “The answer is I haven’t a clue – we accuse the Russians for doing everything.” 

He added: “I am always concerned about anyone who tries to hack any account. It’s appalling behaviour.”