MPs are set to be informed today of a massive data breach involving the Ministry of Defence, targeting service personnel.
According to a Sky News report, the Chinese state is to be accused of two or three attempts at hacking MoD employees.
The cyberattack is reported to have come on a payroll system with current service personnel and some veterans, meaning it is largely names and bank details that have been exposed.
The government is yet to pin the blame on China, but defence secretary Grant Shapps will deliver a statement in the House of Commons on the matter this afternoon.
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Asked about the matter on Tuesday morning, cabinet minister Mel Stride refused to call out China specifically, telling Sky News: “That is an assumption. We are not saying that at this precise moment.
He added: “We will have to wait to see what Grant Shapps has to say this afternoon.”
Reacting to the news, former leader of the Conservative Party Sir Iain Duncan Smith called on the government to recognise China is a “malign actor”.
The former minister told Sky News: “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, China 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.
Sir Iain is one of a number of Conservative MPs who would like to see the government step up its rhetoric on China.
The UK’s Integrated Review (IR), which set out the government’s defence priorities when published last year, labels China as an “epoch-defining challenge”.
Also speaking on Tuesday morning, former minister Tobias Ellwood insisted the targeting of a third party payroll system used by the Ministry of Defence had all the hallmarks of a Chinese cyber attack.
The former chairman of the House of Commons defence committee told the BBC’s Radio 4 Today programme: “Targeting the names of the payroll system and service personnels’ bank details, this does point to China because it can be as part of a plan, a strategy to see who might be coerced.”
Since the story broke, China’s foreign ministry has insisted it “firmly opposes and fights all forms of cyber attacks”.
It added it “rejects the use of this issue politically to smear other countries”.
Politics.co.uk is the UK’s leading digital-only political website, providing comprehensive coverage of UK politics. Subscribe to our daily newsletter here.
The post Government must admit China is ‘malign actor’ after cyber attack, says Conservative MP appeared first on Politics.co.uk.
According to a Sky News report, the Chinese state is to be accused of two or three attempts at hacking MoD employees.
The cyberattack is reported to have come on a payroll system with current service personnel and some veterans, meaning it is largely names and bank details that have been exposed.
The government is yet to pin the blame on China, but defence secretary Grant Shapps will deliver a statement in the House of Commons on the matter this afternoon.
***Politics.co.uk is the UK’s leading digital-only political website, providing comprehensive coverage of UK politics. Subscribe to our daily newsletter here.***
Asked about the matter on Tuesday morning, cabinet minister Mel Stride refused to call out China specifically, telling Sky News: “That is an assumption. We are not saying that at this precise moment.
He added: “We will have to wait to see what Grant Shapps has to say this afternoon.”
Reacting to the news, former leader of the Conservative Party Sir Iain Duncan Smith called on the government to recognise China is a “malign actor”.
The former minister told Sky News: “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, China 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.
Sir Iain is one of a number of Conservative MPs who would like to see the government step up its rhetoric on China.
The UK’s Integrated Review (IR), which set out the government’s defence priorities when published last year, labels China as an “epoch-defining challenge”.
Also speaking on Tuesday morning, former minister Tobias Ellwood insisted the targeting of a third party payroll system used by the Ministry of Defence had all the hallmarks of a Chinese cyber attack.
The former chairman of the House of Commons defence committee told the BBC’s Radio 4 Today programme: “Targeting the names of the payroll system and service personnels’ bank details, this does point to China because it can be as part of a plan, a strategy to see who might be coerced.”
Since the story broke, China’s foreign ministry has insisted it “firmly opposes and fights all forms of cyber attacks”.
It added it “rejects the use of this issue politically to smear other countries”.
Politics.co.uk is the UK’s leading digital-only political website, providing comprehensive coverage of UK politics. Subscribe to our daily newsletter here.
The post Government must admit China is ‘malign actor’ after cyber attack, says Conservative MP appeared first on Politics.co.uk.