China Suspected of Hacking UK Government Secrets for Years... "Cover-Up Attempt Alleged"

"Sensitive Confidential Information Leaked... Prime Minister's Office Covered It Up After Being Briefed"
Bloomberg: "China Had Routine Access to UK Government Networks for 10 Years"
UK Government Refutes: "No Breach of Core Security Networks"

China has been accused of hacking confidential information from UK government servers over an extended period.

The Times reported on the 16th (local time) that, according to Dominic Cummings, former Chief of Staff to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, among others, China acquired a vast amount of sensitive confidential information over several years.

A large-scale military parade held on the 80th anniversary of Victory Day at Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, on the 3rd of last month. Photo by Yonhap News

Former Chief of Staff Cummings claimed that a security breach occurred in the Prime Minister's security office, known as the "bunker," and that even top-level classified information was leaked. He further alleged that then-Prime Minister Johnson was briefed on the matter in 2020 but chose to cover it up.

He emphasized, "A vast amount of secret material, classified as top secret and extremely dangerous if controlled by other foreign agencies, was affected," adding, "These are materials from intelligence agencies and other information that the government must keep confidential, the exposure of which would be extremely serious."

The Times also reported that a senior government official and Tom Tugendhat, former Minister of State for Security at the Home Office, confirmed that there is evidence sensitive government information was transferred to China.

Bloomberg News, citing sources, reported that Chinese hackers routinely accessed medium- and low-level confidential information on UK government servers for at least ten years. According to former senior security officials and government authorities, the exposed information included materials labeled "official sensitive" and "confidential," as well as documents stored on government security networks. Confidential information related to the policy-making process, private communications, and diplomatic channels was also reportedly compromised.

A spokesperson for the UK Cabinet Office refuted the claims, stating, "It is not true that systems used to transmit the most sensitive government information have been compromised." Kieran Martin, who served as director of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) from 2016 to 2020, told the BBC, "This is an issue that should have been led by the NCSC, but no such investigation took place." He added, "While China is a persistent and serious cyber security threat, there was no evidence that they had penetrated these fully customized systems (government confidential information networks) by 2020."

Meanwhile, the UK's domestic intelligence agency, MI5, stated in a directive sent to public officials on the 13th that "the UK has long been a target of strategic external interference and espionage by Russia, China, and Iran. Each of these countries seeks to advance their economic and strategic interests in different ways and to undermine our democratic institutions."