The British Ministry of Defense was the target of a cyberattack targeting the military's payroll system, the government said on Tuesday (May 7), triggering new accusations against China, which the latter firmly rejected.
The data breach concerns the names and banking details of members of the armed forces, serving in the navy, land and air forces, and those of veterans, according to the Sky News television channel. . Personal addresses would also appear in this data. According to several media outlets, the government suspects China of being behind the cyberattack.
Representing the government before the British media on Tuesday morning, Labor Minister Mel Stride said he could not “say” that Beijing was responsible and that it was “a hypothesis”.
Third-party database targeted
While relations between London and Beijing have deteriorated considerably in recent years, the Chinese government represents a "historic challenge" and "our eyes are wide open when it comes to China", the minister continued.
Beijing reacted quickly and firmly. “The comments made by relevant British politicians are utter nonsense,” said Foreign Office spokesperson Lin Jian. “China has always firmly opposed and firmly suppressed all types of cyberattacks,” he said.
British authorities discovered the cyberattack in recent days, according to several British media. The hackers would not have recovered any data from the system. “The Department of Defense acted very quickly to take the database offline” targeted by the attack, Mel Stride said. The target is not, he clarified, a Ministry of Defense database but that of a third party.
The Secretary of State for Defence, Grant Shapps, will speak in Parliament today on the subject, but he is not expected to specifically name anyone responsible. On the other hand, he will warn of the dangers posed by cyberespionage, according to the BBC.
According to MP Tobias Elwood, former chairman of a parliamentary defense committee, the attack has all the hallmarks of a Chinese cyberattack. “Targeting staff names and bank details points back to China,” he told the BBC. “It can be part of a plan, a strategy,” he added.
