UK Ministry of Defence Hit by Major Data Breach

Hackers target UK Ministry of Defence

The UK’s Ministry of Defence has suffered a major data breach, with personal information of UK military personnel hacked from a third-party payroll system.

Names, bank details, and a small number of addresses were accessed, The Guardian reported. The Ministry took immediate action, taking the external contractor network offline and alerting affected personnel.

The British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak said: “There are indications that a malign actor has compromised the armed forces’ payment network.”

Media outlets in the UK, including the BBC, reported that China was behind the hack. However, neither Sunak nor the Ministry of Defence had commented on this, according to a Reuters report.

UK Defence Minister Grant Shapps told parliament that ministers didn’t believe data had been stolen, adding that he could not rule out a foreign state being involved in the breach.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said Beijing opposed all forms of cyberattack, and rejected any attempt to use cybersecurity issues to smear other countries.