Government data stolen in hack, minister confirms

Government data has been stolen in a hack though officials believe the risk to individuals is "low", Trade Minister Chris Bryant has said.

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.

It is understood a Chinese affiliated group is suspected of being behind the attack.

The UK government has not named who it thinks is responsible, with a spokesperson saying it has been "working to investigate" the incident.

Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Bryant said investigations were "ongoing", adding that the security gap was "closed pretty quickly".

"We think that it is a fairly low-risk that individuals will have been compromised or affected," he added.

Speaking to Times Radio, he said: "I'm not able to say whether it is directly related to Chinese operatives, or indeed the Chinese state".

The Sun newspaper has reported that the incident took place in October, with information possibly including visa details targeted.

The incident has been referred to the Information Commissioner's Office.

UK intelligence agencies have warned about increasing, large-scale espionage from China, using cyber and other means, and targeting commercial and political information.

The cyber-agency GCHQ said last year that it was devoting more resources to counter threats from China than any other nation.

"Government facilities are always going to be potentially targeted," Bryant said on Friday.

"We are working through the consequences of what this is."

Government departments often use "old IT" systems that run on "operating systems which are no longer being updated by the manufacturer, Jamie MacColl, a Senior Research Fellow in Cyber and Tech at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), told the BBC.

"This can be particularly acute in the public sector because they don't have the money," he said, adding: "It's really expensive to improve."

"Procurement can be a race to the bottom, where departments go with the cheapest provider rather than the best".

This latest breach "highlights these continuing weaknesses in government systems," Jake Moore, global cybersecurity adviser to software company ESET, said.

"Often governments use old systems because they haven't got the money [to improve them]", he told the BBC.

Government departments need to invest in "better digital defences", he said, because "they will continue to be targeted".

"Chinese attackers often target companies and organisations purely to monitor them," he said. "We often think cyber attacks are connected to financial motivation, but this is another level that comes out of China, with espionage and monitoring systems as the key motivator".

However, he urged caution when "pointing the finger" at China because sophisticated cyber criminals are "able to direct a cyber attack and make it look like it's come from another country."

Confirmation of a hack by a Chinese state group would be awkward for the government ahead of a planned visit to Beijing next year by Sir Keir Starmer, the first by a UK prime minister since 2018.

The Labour government has said it is important to engage with China as it cannot be ignored on trade, climate change and other major issues, but face-to-face meetings also provide a forum for robust exchanges about issues affecting UK security.

The Chinese government has consistently denied it backs cyber-attacks targeting the UK.

Last year, responding to the UK government's National Security Strategy, a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in London said "accusations such as Chinese espionage, cyber-attacks, and transnational repression against the UK are entirely fabricated, malicious slander".

Earlier this month, Sir Keir said UK government policy towards China could not continue to blow "hot and cold".

Failing to navigate a relationship with China, he said, would be a "dereliction of duty" when China is a "defining force in technology, trade and global governance".

Building a careful relationship would instead bolster the UK's place as a leader on the international stage and help secure UK national interests, Sir Keir said, while still recognising the "reality" that China "poses national security threats".