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The payroll system of Britain’s armed forces was recently hacked, according to the British government, Chinese hackers may be behind the incident, writes the BBC.
The system used by the Ministry of Defense contains the names and bank details of the personnel of the armed forces. In a very small number of cases, the data may also include personal addresses. The system was managed by an external contractor.
China has previously stated that it “opposes all forms of cyber attacks”.
The government became aware of the data breach in recent days and found no evidence that hackers had removed the data from the system, but is treating the situation as if it had occurred.
Cabinet Minister Mel Stride said the UK government takes cyber security extremely seriously and has acted very quickly.
Several sources told the BBC that the investigation is still at an early stage and it is not yet certain who is behind the breach. It can take months, sometimes years, to gather enough evidence to make public charges, so it’s unlikely China will be officially named at this point.
However, the signs seem to be pointing towards this, especially given that Beijing has previously targeted this type of data set, including attempts to obtain information from ex-RAF pilots.
Service providers affected by the hack are receiving further information from the government and have been told that the concerns relate to the risk of fraud rather than personal security.
In March, the government publicly accused China of a hack in August 2021 that sought to obtain the data of millions of voters held by the election commission. In December 2023, the National Cyber Security Center said that Russian intelligence was behind “malicious cyber activity that seeks to interfere with UK politics and democratic processes”. In the past, public institutions and private companies were also targeted by hackers demanding ransom.
