China under suspicion

Cyber attack on London Ministry of Defense

Grant Shapps has been British Defense Minister since autumn 2023.(Bild: APA/AFP/Wojtek Radwanski)

According to media reports, the British Ministry of Defense has been the victim of a cyber attack. The attack targeted the payroll system of a third-party provider, as reported by Sky News on Monday evening. As a result, the bank details of all active members of the armed forces and some veterans may have been compromised. That is around 270,000 people, reported "Politico".

According to the report, names and bank details were affected, as well as private addresses in several thousand cases. The BBC and the British news agency PA also reported on the cyber attack.

The government suspects that China is behind the attack, Sky News reported. The UK and the USA accused China of "malicious" cyber attacks in March. Chinese hackers are said to be responsible for an attack on the British electoral regulator in 2021 and for targeting the email accounts of British MPs.

There was initially no official confirmation of the new attack. It was expected that Defense Secretary Grant Shapps would inform Parliament this afternoon, but not name any culprits. Conservative MP and defense spokesman Tobias Ellwood told Sky News that China may be targeting the financially weak to coerce them into cooperation with payments.