Major hack at Foreign Office as ‘China cyber gang’ suspected
Business Minister Sir Chris Bryant confirmed there has “certainly “been a hack of Government servers, but would not say whether China had been involved.
Servers at the Foreign Office have been hacked – with reports that Chinese hackers have accessed confidential data and information.
Business Minister Sir Chris Bryant confirmed there has been a hack of Government servers, but would not say whether China had been involved.
He said the Government had been talking to the Information Commissioner about who has been affected and believe there is a “fairly low risk” that individuals have been compromised or affected. An investigation has been ongoing since October.
Reports emerged last night that China-linked cyber gang Storm-1849 targeted government servers in October. It sparked concerns that personal or sensitive data had been stolen.
Storm-1849 is a cyber espionage group. In 2024, the UK government formally blamed China for “malicious” cyber campaigns against MPs and the Electoral Commission.
Asked about the latest hack, Sir Chris told BBC Breakfast: “It is certainly true that there has been a hack and the investigation is ongoing. We believe that we managed to close the loophole, as it were, or the gap pretty quickly.
“We’ve been talking to the Information Commissioner about precisely who may or may not have been affected, but we think that it’s a fairly low risk that individuals will have been compromised or affected.
“I can’t I know there’s been quite a lot of speculation out there about whether this is related to China and so on. I can’t confirm whether that is true or not, we simply don’t know as yet.”
The trade minister added that cyber attacks are a “part of modern life”, saying: “You will know that earlier on this year, there was a big cyber hack at JLR, and also at Marks and Spencer’s, and a couple of years ago at the British Library. This is a part of modern life that we have to tackle and deal with.
“And we are alert to this constantly in government. We know that government facilities are always going to be potentially targets, and we’re working through the consequences of what this is, but I’ve seen a lot of speculation, and I will be very, very hesitant about standing that up.”
