(Reuters) -A “malign actor” has probably compromised the payments system used by the British military, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Tuesday after reports that China had hacked into a database holding personal information of the armed forces.
The BBC and other media reported that China had been behind the cyber attack on the payroll system used by Britain’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) containing names and bank details of those serving in the Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force.
Beijing has rejected any involvement, describing it as a smear for political ends.
“There are indications that a malign actor has compromised the armed forces’ payment network,” Sunak told reporters during a visit to a soccer academy in London.
“I do want to reassure people that the Ministry of Defence has already taken the action of removing the network offline and making sure that people affected are supported in the right way.”
Neither Sunak nor the Ministry of Defence (MoD) commented on any Chinese role. Sunak’s Downing Street office said the company contracted to manage the database was under a security review and appropriate steps would be taken.
Defence Minister Grant Shapps is due to make a statement to parliament later to set out a “multi-point plan to support and protect personnel”.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said Beijing opposed all forms of cyber attack, and rejected any attempt to use cybersecurity issues to smear other countries.
“The relevant remarks from UK politicians are absurd,” he said, in response to British political reaction to the report.
Britain and China have increasingly sparred over the issue of hacking, with London saying in March that Chinese hackers and a Chinese entity were behind two high-profile attacks in recent years – the targeting of lawmakers critical of China, and an assault on the country’s electoral watchdog.
The issue has strained ties as Britain has sought to maintain or even enhance engagement with China in areas such as trade, investment and climate change.
With a national election expected later this year, some British politicians have become increasingly vocal over the threat posed by China’s alleged espionage activity.
Mel Stride, a senior British minister, said the database was managed by an external contractor and had been taken offline quickly.
“The MoD has acted very swiftly to take this database offline. It’s a third-party database and certainly not one run directly by the MoD,” he told Sky News.
(Reporting by Kate Holton, Sachin Ravikumar, Elizabeth Piper, and Michael Holden in London; Andrew Hayley and Bernard Orr in Beijing. Additional reporting by Urvi Dugar in Bengaluru; Editing by Stephen Coates, Gerry Doyle, William Maclean and Christina Fincher)
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