“POINT TO CHINA”: UK DEFENCE MINISTRY TARGETED IN CYBERATTACK

Tue 07 May 2024:

Britain’s Ministry of Defence has become the target of significant cyberattack, as confirmed by a government official speaking to British media.

On Tuesday, Mel Stride, the Work and Pensions Secretary, informed Sky News, which initially reported the breach, that the attack targeted an externally managed system, but was still a “very significant matter”.

The attack aimed at a third-party payroll system utilized by the Defence Ministry, compromising the personal information and financial details of both current and former armed forces personnel, as revealed by Sky News and the BBC.

Defence Secretary Grant Shapps is anticipated to provide additional details to parliament later in the day.

“The MoD [Ministry of Defence] has acted very swiftly to take this database offline. It’s a third-party database and certainly not one run directly by the MoD,” Stride told Sky. The ministry first discovered the cyberattack several days back.

Tobias Ellwood, a former Conservative government minister, suggested that the incident bore the characteristics of a Chinese cyberattack.

“Targeting the names of the payroll system and service personnel’s bank details, this does point to China because it can be as part of a plan, a strategy to see who might be coerced,” the former soldier and ex-chairman of a parliamentary defence committee told BBC Radio.

Meanwhile, Stride clarified that the government was refraining from directly implicating Beijing at this juncture.

“That is an assumption … we are not saying that at this precise moment,” he added.

According to British media reports, Shapps is poised to affirm that a hostile state was behind the breach, but the government is not expected to publicly attribute blame to China.

China has dismissed the accusations as ‘utter nonsense,’ according to Lin Jian, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, emphasizing Beijing’s staunch opposition to all forms of cyberattacks and rejecting any politicization of hacking allegations.

“The remarks by relevant British politicians are utter nonsense,” Lin said on Tuesday. “China has always firmly opposed and cracked down on all types of cyberattacks.

Tensions between the two nations have escalated over hacking concerns, with Britain alleging Chinese hackers and entities were responsible for notable attacks, including those on parliamentarians critical of China and the country’s electoral watchdog.

This has strained bilateral relations as Britain endeavors to balance addressing security threats from China while maintaining engagement in various sectors such as trade, investment, and climate change.

Nevertheless, mounting apprehension surrounds alleged Chinese espionage activities in Britain, particularly in the lead-up to forthcoming general elections, prompting some British politicians to vocalize concerns over the perceived threat posed by China.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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