China hacked the UK Ministry of Defense and gained access to sensitive payroll data of current and former government employees. As reported by Sky News, the British government will inform parliamentarians that there was a cyber attack by a foreign power, but the aforementioned media was responsible for confirming that it was China.
According to the aforementioned media, the state ruled by Xi-Jinping will be accused of " two or three attempts to hack employees, including staff."
Specifically, the cyberattack focused on a list of current and former staff of the Ministry of Defense. The leaks contain names and sensitive data (such as banking data) of the people who have been exposed. However, preliminary investigations showed that no data was taken.
The government is expected to inform parliamentarians about the events of recent weeks in the House of Commons.
"He is an evil actor"
Sky News spoke about this with Tobias Ellwood, a Conservative MP and former soldier, who pointed out that Xi-Jinping could have been looking for something with which he could coerce the British government. "It was probably looking at the financially vulnerable with a view that they may be coerced in exchange for cash," he said.
For Sir Iain Duncan Smith, former Conservative Party chairman and current MP, "this is yet another example of why the UK government must admit that China poses a systemic threat to the UK and change the integrated review to reflect that."
"No more pretence, it is a malign actor, supporting Russia with money and military equipment, working with Iran and North Korea in a new axis of totalitarian states," he added.
The aforementioned media also discussed the cyber attack with John Healey, hypothetical Labor Party defense secretary, who said that he has "so many serious questions for the defence secretary on this, especially from Forces personnel whose details were targeted."
"Any such hostile action is absolutely unacceptable(...) Parliament will expect a full Commons statement tomorrow," he said.
