Government data stolen in hack, minister confirms

Government data has been stolen in a hack though officials believe the risk to individuals is "low", a minister has said.

Trade Minister Chris Bryant told BBC Breakfast "an investigation is ongoing" into the hack, adding that the security gap was "closed pretty quickly".

A Chinese affiliated group is suspected of being behind the attack, but Bryant said investigators "simply don't know as yet" who is responsible.

That data is understood to have been on systems operated on the Home Office's behalf by the Foreign Office, whose staff detected the incident.

"We think that it's a fairly low-risk that individuals will have been compromised or affected," Bryant said.

It comes after the Sun newspaper reported that hackers affiliated to the Chinese state accessed the data in October with information possibly including visa details targeted.

The incident has been referred to the Information Commissioners Office.

UK intelligence agencies have warned about increasing, large-scale espionage from China, using cyber and other means, and targeting commercial and political information.

The cyber-agency GCHQ said last year that it was devoting more resources to counter threats from China than any other nation.

"Government facilities are always going to be potentially targeted," Bryant said on Friday.

"We are working through the consequences of what this is."

"This is a part of modern life that we have to tackle and deal with," Bryant added, pointing to major hacks in recent years at Jaguar Land Rover, Marks & Spencer and the British Library.

Confirmation of a hack by a Chinese state group would be awkward for the government ahead of a planned visit to Beijing next year by Sir Keir Starmer, the first by a UK prime minister since 2018.

The Labour government has said it is important to engage with China as it cannot be ignored on trade, climate change and other major issues, but face-to-face meetings also provide a forum for robust exchanges about issues affecting UK security.

The Chinese government has consistently denied it backs cyber-attacks targeting the UK.

Last year, responding to the UK government's National Security Strategy, a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in London said "accusations such as Chinese espionage, cyber-attacks, and transnational repression against the UK are entirely fabricated, malicious slander".

Earlier this month, Sir Keir said UK government policy towards China could not continue to blow "hot and cold".

Failing to navigate a relationship with China, he said, would be a "dereliction of duty" when China is a "defining force in technology, trade and global governance".

Building a careful relationship would instead bolster the UK's place as a leader on the international stage and help secure UK national interests, Sir Keir said, while still recognising the "reality" that China "poses national security threats".