The Ministry of Defense has suffered a major data breach, resulting in the personal information of British military personnel being hacked.
A third-party payroll system used by the Department of Defense, which contains the names and bank account information of current and former military members, was targeted in the attack. It is also possible that a very small number of addresses were accessed.
The department took immediate action and took the external network operated by the contractor offline.
The BBC and Sky, which first reported the story, said initial investigations found no evidence that the data had been deleted. The Guardian understands that MPs will debate the issue in the House of Commons on Tuesday, with Defense Secretary Grant Shapps expected to make a statement in the afternoon.
Ministers will condemn hostile and malicious actors but will not name the country behind the hack.
As a precautionary measure, affected service personnel will be alerted and provided with expert advice. Privacy Services allow you to see if your information is being used or is being used.
All salaries were paid on the last payday and there should be no problem with the next paycheck at the end of this month, but in a few cases there may be a slight delay in paying expenses.
Shadow Defense Secretary John Healy said: “There have been a number of serious questions to the Secretary of Defense about this, particularly from members of the military whose details have been targeted.
“This kind of hostile behavior is completely unacceptable.”
The Ministry of Defense first discovered the attack a few days ago and has been working to understand its scale and impact ever since. Britain and the United States in March accused China of a global “malicious” cyberattack campaign in an unprecedented joint operation to expose Chinese government espionage.
Britain has accused China of being behind an online “reconnaissance” campaign that targeted the Electoral Commission watchdog in 2021 and targeted the email accounts of MPs and their colleagues.
Following the Beijing-linked hacking of the Election Commission and 43 individuals, front companies Wuhan Xiaoruizhi Technology Company and two individuals associated with the APT31 hacking group were sanctioned.
However, some members of Congress targeted by the Chinese state say this response is not enough, labeling China as a “threat” to national security rather than an “epoch-making challenge” and changing their attitude toward China. He called on the government to strengthen it.
Former Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith echoed similar comments, telling Sky News: “This is another example of why the UK Government must accept that China is a systemic threat to the UK and change the Integrated Review to reflect this.”
“There is no better pretense. It is a malign actor supporting Russia with funds and military equipment and collaborating with Iran and North Korea in a new axis of totalitarian states.”
“The Secretary of Defense will make a statement to the House of Commons this afternoon setting out a multifaceted plan to support and protect personnel,” the Ministry of Defense said in a statement Tuesday morning.
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said the Chinese government opposes and combats all forms of cyber-attacks and rejects the use of this issue for political purposes to denigrate other countries.
