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According to reports, a major cyber attack by China targeted the UK Ministry of Defense, revealing details of military personnel.
The attacks, believed to have been carried out in two or three separate attacks, targeted third-party payroll systems containing details of tens of thousands of British military and veterans.
Sky News reports that the Ministry of Defense has been working to understand the scale of the hack for the past three days since it was recently discovered. The Ministry of Defense has been contacted for comment.
No data is believed to have been collected, and the Ministry of Defense urged service workers not to fear for their safety. Lawmakers are expected to be informed of the attack on Tuesday.
This comes after Chinese “state actors” were blamed by the government for two “malicious” cyberattack campaigns in the UK in 2021 and 2022.
In March, Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden told the House of Commons that two individuals and a company with ties to the Chinese state had been sanctioned for attacks on the Electoral Commission.
Dowden said the same company carried out “reconnaissance” operations against British Parliament accounts in a separate campaign in 2021.
Mr Dowden told MPs that the UK had sanctioned two people and a company linked to APT31, a cyber group linked to China’s Ministry of State Security.
At the time, a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in London said: “China’s so-called cyber attack against the UK is a complete fabrication and malicious slander.”
On Monday, Chinese President Xi Jinping began a tour of Europe but had no plans to visit the UK. He spent the day in Paris, where he met with French President Emmanuel Macron.
Upon his arrival, a group of seven French parliamentarians targeted in a cyberattack by Chinese hackers called for a judicial investigation by authorities.
They are calling on France to formally attribute the attack to APT31, the same company that Britain sanctioned in March.
Unlike the US, UK and New Zealand, which have formally accused China of some cyberattacks, French authorities have avoided blaming Beijing.
President Xi is scheduled to visit Serbia on Wednesday and Hungary on Thursday, both countries which have friendly relations with China.
