If the bookies are right, the next Home Secretary of the United Kingdom, Diane Abbott MP, was the latest victim of an email phishing scam. The Shadow Minister is responsible for data security, cyber-crime and intelligence gathering was taken in by an IT tech support email phishing scam. She is the MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington.

The latest high-profile scam victim highlights the brutal truth that phishing scams can affect everyone from the lowliest to the highest offices of state.

The Register did try to get a reply from the Shadow Minister:

“As Home Secretary – note that Ladbrokes offers 4-1 on Labour being the next government – Ms Abbott would be responsible for cybersecurity, as well as crime and policing. She would also have to decide whether Britain implements an identity card system, an idea currently being revived in the context of “digital government”. We asked her office if Ms Abbott would consider helping to publicise the menace of PC Support fraud. Perhaps as its public face?”

Clearly, education is at the heart of phishing prevention. The National Cyber Security Centre does provide UK businesses with educational resources and support to help protect your business from email phishing attacks.