Sir David Davis Website Targeted: 142 Million Requests From China Shut Down MP's Site

Sir David Davis, Member of Parliament for Goole and Pocklington, reported to the House of Commons on Monday evening that his website had been subjected to a sustained cyber attack, forcing its closure. Davis stated the site experienced "142 million requests, consuming nearly 800 gigabytes (GB) of data" over 24 hours, with a significant portion of the traffic originating from China.

Initially compromised last Thursday, the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority-backed (IPSA) website had malicious links inserted, redirecting users to "South East Asian gambling websites." Following its restoration, the site then came under a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack.

Davis characterised the incident as "not a minor nuisance, it's a direct interference with a Member of Parliament carrying out his duties." At 09:30 BST on Tuesday, the website remained offline, displaying a maintenance message.

DDoS attacks function by inundating a website with internet traffic, aiming to render it inoperable. Deputy Speaker Nus Ghani advised MPs to contact the Parliamentary Security Department (PSD) for advice on protecting personal accounts and devices, and the PDS service desk for parliamentary equipment concerns, declining to discuss specific preventative measures publicly.