UK flags possible Chinese role in Foreign Office cyberattack
What's the story
The UK Foreign Office's computer systems, which contain sensitive information, were allegedly hacked by suspected Chinese cybercriminals a few months ago, according to UK media reports. The attack was confirmed by UK MP Chris Bryant in an interview with Sky News. He said that while it is "not entirely clear" who is behind the hack, The Sun reported that a group called Storm-1849 was behind the attack.
Cyber espionage
Storm-1849's involvement and data breach details
Storm-1849, a China-linked espionage group, is said to have targeted Foreign Office servers. The attack resulted in the theft of "thousands" of confidential documents and data including visa details. This group has been accused by Western agencies of being part of Beijing's state-aligned hacking apparatus. They have previously targeted politicians, parliamentary staff, and organizations critical of the Chinese government using phishing emails and cloud access to harvest sensitive political information.
Incident management
Bryant's response and security measures
Bryant confirmed that they were aware of the hack since October and acted quickly to mitigate its impact. He said, "We managed to close the hole, as it were, very quickly." Bryant also emphasized on tackling high-profile cyber-attacks in UK such as those on Marks and Spencer, Jaguar Land Rover and British Library. He clarified that some reports about this incident may have been more speculation than accurate.
Risk assessment
Technical issue and low risk to individuals
Bryant pointed out a "technical issue" on one of the FCDO sites that led to this hacking incident. He said, "We're fairly confident that there's a low risk of any individual actually being affected by this." This statement comes amid various speculations about potential outcomes from the hack. Bryant stressed that they are on top of the situation and don't want to create unnecessary panic over it.
Political fallout
Conservative Party accuses Labor government of negligence
The Opposition Conservative Party has accused the Labour government of failing to protect the country from China's foreign interference. UK Conservative politician Priti Patel said, "China undermines our security, institutions and democracy but Labour is failing to protect Britain from China's foreign interference in our country." She further claimed that Labour leader Keir Starmer "kowtows to China at every opportunity and cannot be trusted to protect our national interest."