Russian hackers suspected of attempting to infiltrate the 'Spiritual home of Tory Party' in suspected email 'phishing' campaign

Email claiming to provide a list of political donors sent to Carlton Club members

Russian hackers are suspected of attempting to infiltrate one of London's most exclusive clubs, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

The Carlton Club, which counts top Tory politicians including former prime ministers among its elite list of members, fell victim to a sinister email 'phishing' campaign last week.

Members of the 200-year-old club – dubbed the spiritual home of the Tory Party – received what looked like a genuine email from the club's fundraising political committee last week. But it turned out to be fake.

The email had a link to a file called 'donations funding'. Once clicked on, it sent recipients to an obscure Russian web address that security experts warn is under the control of cyber criminals.

A former member of the Carlton sounded the alarm on Wednesday. Human rights lawyer David Haigh said: 'It was so well done. An email that purports to provide a list of political donors, of course people are going to be interested in that.'

The Carlton Club, which counts Tory politicians and former prime ministers as its members, fell victim to a sinister email 'phishing' campaign last week

He added: 'And when you think about the membership of the Carlton Club, if it's some kind of ransomware that gets into people's computers, imagine what it could potentially do.'

After he informed the club, it messaged all members, warning that the email had not come from the Carlton and advised them that they should delete it.

The Mail on Sunday worked with cybersecurity company Cyjax to assess the email and its contents.

Ian Thornton-Trump, the firm's chief information security officer, said: 'From our analysis, we can absolutely guarantee that the systems at the Carlton Club have been compromised.

'We found weaknesses around their online security, and staff email addresses from a previous hack on another organisation. It could be that these have been used as source material to launch this sophisticated cyber attack.

'The Russian web link itself appears to have only been created five days ago, meaning that the compromise may have had a relatively short time span. That would indicate that it was created specifically for the purposes of this attack, which we assess to be highly targeted.'

The Carlton Club was the setting of a Conservative-led coup in 1922, when backbench MPs decided to withdraw from David Lloyd George's coalition government.

Women were unable to join the club until 2008, although Margaret Thatcher was given special dispensation to become an 'honorary member' and later went on to become its second president

It was formed in 1832 by the Duke of Wellington, and Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher were members, though women were unable to join until 2008.

Mrs Thatcher was given special dispensation to become an 'honorary member'. She later went on to become its second president. Her portrait still hangs on the wall of the Wellington dining room.

Philip Ingram, a former senior military intelligence officer, said: 'We have seen MPs targeted in honeytrap and online phishing campaigns, and it would not be surprising if an exclusive club for members of the Tory party was seen as a consequential target.

'There's no telling how many people will have clicked on that email, so personal details and privileged financial information could already have been compromised.

'This is a concerning development and yet another indication that we are effectively at cyber-war with Russia.'