UK Government data stolen in suspected Chinese hack

The trade minister, Chris Bryant, has confirmed that data belonging to the UK Government has been stolen in a hack.  

Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Bryant confirmed the news and said that an “investigation is ongoing.”

That data is understood to have been on systems operated on the Home Office's behalf by the Foreign Office, whose staff detected the incident.  

A Chinese affiliated hacking group is suspected of being behind the attack, but Bryant said investigators "don't know as yet" who is responsible for stealing the data.

"We think that it's a fairly low-risk that individuals will have been compromised or affected," Bryant said. "We are working through the consequences of what this is."

UK intelligence agencies have warned about large-scale espionage from China in the past. In October the UK’s head of Space Command, Maj Gen Paul Tedman, highlighted the threat from Chinese attacks on UK satellites, describing their approach as “sophisticated”.  

The Chinese government has denied it backed cyber-attacks targeting the UK by affiliated hacking groups in the past. 

Commenting on the UK’s National Security Strategy, which highlighted risks from China, a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in London told the BBC: "Accusations such as Chinese espionage, cyber-attacks, and transnational repression against the UK are entirely fabricated, malicious slander".

Recent data published by GCHQ’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) highlighted the number of "highly significant" cyberattacks in the UK rose by almost 50 per cent since 2024.

In 2024 just over half of businesses and around a third of charities reported some form of cybersecurity breach or attack to their systems. This number rose to 74 per cent for large businesses, at an average cost of £10,830 per attack.

"Government facilities are always going to be potentially targeted," said Bryant. "This is a part of modern life that we have to tackle and deal with."