Government Suspects "Malign Actor" Behind Cyber Attack On Ministry Of Defence

Defence Secretary Grant Shapps confirmed that the government suspects a "malign actor" was responsible for a cyber attack on a database containing the details of military service personnel.

A cyber attack has been carried out on a payroll system with current and former service personnel, exposing their names and bank details.

Although Shapps said they would not release further details at this stage "for reasons of national security", there are multiple reports that government sources suspect China is behind the hacking. 

"I can confirm to the House that we do have indications that this was the suspected work of a malign actor and we cannot rule out state involvement," Shapps told the House of Commons on Tuesday afternoon.

"This incident is further proof that the UK is facing rising and evolving threats and, as I set out in my speech in Lancaster House in January, the world is becoming somewhat more dangerous.

"Last month the government therefore announced an increase in defence spending to meet these new threats reaching 2.5 percent of GDP by the end of the decade."

Shapps apologised to the people affected by the cyberattack and said that while it was not the Ministry of Defence's own systems that had been hacked but one which was provided by a third party contractor, there was "evidence of potential failings" by this contractor that warranted an immediate security review of the contractor and their operations. 

"Following this incident I can also announce today that although this incident is entirely unrelated to our own MOD networks, we are also reviewing all personnel data to ensure our people's data is secure," he continued.

Earlier on Tuesday, a No10 spokesperson said that "we are clear that China is a state-based threat to