Chinese state-sponsored hackers are highly sophisticated, leveraging advanced techniques and vast resources to conduct cyber espionage and steal sensitive data from Western governments, militaries, and critical infrastructure.
The British government is expected to announce that personal details of UK military personnel were targeted in a cyber attack suspected to be carried out by Chinese state-sponsored hackers.
While the hack impacted an IT system of a UK Ministry of Defence contractor, it did not breach the central network of the MoD.
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Defence Contractor’s IT System Hacked
Sky News learns that the cyber attack impacted a contractor’s IT system, which hosted comprehensive personal and banking details of all active UK military personnel, reservists, thousands of veterans, and some addresses.
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While the initial MoD investigation found no evidence of data exfiltration, precautionary measures are being implemented as the incident response continues.
MPs should expect UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps to discuss the MoD hack. It is expected that he will also confirm that a hostile state actor was responsible, probably China.
However, he should address this issue in his speech without naming them directly. Various organizations have been brought in to help investigate the breach of the contractor’s IT system.
These include The Cabinet Office, intelligence agencies, private security firms, and an external contractor who monitors for potential data leaks.
While attributing blame, it seems that they are blaming China but don’t want to publicly say so.
Cyber attacks will not affect military wages, and the special-forces data will be retained on a different system.
The Ministry of Defence is telling the Armed Forces to ensure their safety is not compromised.
They are offering support such as guidance, welfare assistance, or a helpline to deal with any concerns they may have.
This comes after both the US and the UK officials took action against Chinese state-backed hackers who were blamed for a series of devastating cyber-attacks on Washington and London.
At the moment, the MoD has not affirmed any more than this, as it appears that Britain doesn’t want to point the finger directly at China even though it knows which state actor was behind these hostile activities.
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