China has been blamed for a major cyber attack on the Ministry of Defense, which may have compromised information on more than 250,000 armed forces personnel.
No. 10 refused to assign blame Beijing for the hack of a payroll system that may have compromised the banking information of all serving military personnel and some veterans — and may also have exposed some home addresses.
But politicians and experts said the attack, via a third party, had all the hallmarks of Chinese origins.
Conservative former leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith told Sky News: 'This is another example of why the British government must admit that China poses a systemic threat to Britain and amend the integrated assessment to reflect that.
'No more pretenses, it's a malevolent actor, supportive Russia with money and military equipment that is used Iran And North Korea into a new axis of totalitarian states.'
Former Defense Minister Tobias Ellwood told the BBC BBC's Radio 4 Today programme: 'If we focus on the names of the payroll system and the bank details of the service staff, this does point to China because it could be part of a plan, a strategy to see who can be coerced .'
It comes as President Xi visits France on a state visit, with whom he will hold discussions Emmanuel Macron.
Enter the Chinese Embassy Londonn denied involvement and said the claims of an attack were “completely fabricated and malicious slander.”
No10 refused to blame Beijing for the hack of a payroll system that may have compromised the banking details of all serving military personnel and some veterans – and may also have exposed some home addresses.
It comes as President Xi visits France for a state visit, where he will hold talks with Emmanuel Macron.
Former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith told Sky News: 'This is yet another example of why the UK government must admit that China poses a systemic threat to Britain and change the integrated review to reflect that. '
The Ministry of Defense (MoD) took immediate action when it discovered the breach and took the remote network, operated by a contractor, offline.
Downing Street said the government had also launched a security investigation into the contractor's activities.
The Prime Minister's official spokesman declined to comment on speculation about the origins of the attack, ahead of a planned statement to the House of Commons on the incident by Defense Secretary Grant Shapps this afternoon.
Shapps is not expected to attribute the attack to any specific state or actor when he addresses MPs on Tuesday afternoon.
It comes less than two months after Chinese state actors were blamed by the government for two “malicious” cyber attack campaigns in Britain.
The two incidents involved an attack on the 2021 election commission and targeted attacks on MPs skeptical of China.
In a speech delivered in the House of Commons last month, Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden confirmed that the Chinese ambassador would be called on to “take responsibility for China's conduct in these incidents”.
He also announced that Britain – along with international partners including the US – would impose sanctions on the Chinese government.
The Ministry of Defense is said to be hopeful that operating personnel will not be concerned about their safety. Those affected by the data breach will receive advice and support tomorrow.
The contractor system is not connected to the Defense Department's main computer systems and has been removed and a review has begun.
Up to 250,000 people could be affected by the breach of their names and banking details, amid the information compromised
It comes less than two months after Chinese state actors were blamed by the government for two 'malicious' cyber attack campaigns in Britain (file image)
All salaries have been paid on the last payday, and no issues are expected on the next payday at the end of this month, although in a small number of cases there may be a slight delay in payment of expenses.
The Ministry of Defense is said to have been working intensively on the issue over the past 72 hours to find out how much data was exposed during the hack. It is understood that research has shown that no data has been collected to date.
Up to 250,000 people could be affected by the breach with their names and banking details amid the information compromised.
The identification of Special Forces soldiers – who are entitled to lifelong anonymity – has not been compromised, according to defense sources.
The country's President Xi Jinping is currently on a two-day state visit to France – his first visit to Europe since 2019.
During a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday, President Xi called for a “global truce” during this summer's Olympics.
The incident threatens to deter other countries with troubled relations with China from sharing sensitive information with Britain.