{"id":45222,"date":"2024-05-07T17:50:37","date_gmt":"2024-05-07T17:50:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/07\/u-k-armed-forces-data-exposed-in-hostile-cyberattack\/"},"modified":"2024-05-07T17:50:37","modified_gmt":"2024-05-07T17:50:37","slug":"u-k-armed-forces-data-exposed-in-hostile-cyberattack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/07\/u-k-armed-forces-data-exposed-in-hostile-cyberattack\/","title":{"rendered":"U.K. Armed Forces\u2019 Data Exposed in Hostile Cyberattack"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/05\/07\/multimedia\/07uk-hack-zqlc\/07uk-hack-zqlc-facebookJumbo.jpg?resize=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"U.K. Armed Forces\u2019 Data Exposed in Hostile Cyberattack\" title=\"U.K. Armed Forces\u2019 Data Exposed in Hostile Cyberattack\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The personal information of British army, navy and air force members has been hacked in a significant data breach, raising alarm over a growing threat from cyberattacks by hostile states, Britain\u2019s defense secretary said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The attack targeted a third-party payroll system used by Britain\u2019s Ministry of Defense, exposing the names and bank details of serving members of the armed forces and some veterans, as well as a small number of addresses.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The payroll system, which is not connected to the defense ministry\u2019s own internal network, has been taken offline and the government did not publicly blame anyone for the data breach, or confirm claims by some lawmakers who pointed the finger at China.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe do have indications that this was the suspected work of a malign actor and we cannot rule out state involvement,\u201d Grant Shapps, the defense secretary, said <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/speeches\/defence-secretary-oral-statement-to-provide-a-defence-personnel-update-07-may-2024\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">in a statement to Parliament<\/a>. \u201cThis incident is further proof that the UK is facing rising and evolving threats,\u201d he said, adding, \u201cThe world is, I\u2019m afraid, becoming somewhat more dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Shapps said that an investigation had been launched into the data breach from the system run by <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/sscl.com\/government\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">SSCL<\/a>, a contractor which also runs some business services for London\u2019s Metropolitan Police. Only a \u201ctiny number\u201d of addresses had leaked, he added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Earlier, Britain\u2019s prime minister Rishi Sunak declined to speculate on the source of the attack but told broadcasters that the Ministry of Defense had taken the network offline, and was supporting those affected.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Asked specifically whether Chinese hackers were responsible, he said China was a country \u201cwith fundamentally different values to ours,\u201d which was \u201cacting in a way that is more authoritarian at home, assertive abroad.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Britain faced \u201can axis of authoritarian states including Russia, Iran, North Korea and China\u201d and had adopted a \u201cvery robust\u201d approach to the government in Beijing, Mr. Sunak said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Security experts note that China has been active in trying to access large troves of data before \u2014 including from British voters.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In March <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/03\/25\/world\/europe\/uk-china-cyberattack-hacking.html\" title=\"\">Britain accused China<\/a> of cyberattacks that compromised the voting records of tens of millions of people, and said that the Chinese had attempted unsuccessfully to hack email accounts belonging to several members of Parliament. The deputy prime minister, Oliver Dowden, also announced sanctions against two individuals and one company linked to a state-affiliated group implicated in those attacks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On Tuesday Ciaran Martin, a former chief executive of Britain\u2019s National Cyber Security Center, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ciaranmartinoxf\/status\/1787793349379821999\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">said that Britain would<\/a> want \u201cto be technically certain,\u201d and probably to bring allies on board, before formally accusing another state or a criminal group. \u201cThat takes time, and rightly so. Accuracy and allies are more important than speed,\u201d he wrote on social media.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Few countries considered spying on the military assets of others to breach the unwritten rules of international relations, Mr. Martin added, describing the data breach as \u201ca serious incident, but at the lower end of serious.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Several British lawmakers were more explicit in their criticism. Tobias Ellwood, a Conservative lawmaker and former chairman of the House of Commons\u2019 Defense Select Committee, told Sky News that China \u201cwas probably looking at the financially vulnerable with a view that they may be coerced in exchange for cash.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Writing on social media, Iain Duncan Smith, a Conservative Party lawmaker, former party leader and critic of the Chinese government, described the hacking of the payroll database as \u201cyet another example of why the U.K. government must admit that China poses a systemic threat to the U.K.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He added: \u201cNo more pretense, China is a malign actor, supporting Russia with money and military equipment, working with Iran and North Korea in a new axis of totalitarian states.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">John Healey, who speaks for the opposition Labour Party on defense issues, said there were \u201cso many serious questions for the defense secretary on this, especially from Forces personnel whose details were targeted.\u201d Writing on social media he added: \u201cAny such hostile action is utterly unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Asked about the reports, Lin Jian, a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was dismissive.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe remarks from British politicians concerned are utter nonsense,\u201d Mr. Lin told a regular news briefing in Beijing on Tuesday. \u201cChina has always resolutely opposed and fought against all forms of cyberattacks, and firmly opposes exploiting cybersecurity issues for political ends to willfully malign other countries.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-798hid etfikam0\">Chris Buckley<!-- --> contributed reporting from Taipei.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/05\/07\/world\/europe\/uk-armed-forces-data-hack.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The personal information of British army, navy and air force members has been hacked in a significant data breach, raising alarm over a growing threat from cyberattacks by hostile states, Britain\u2019s defense secretary said on Tuesday. The attack targeted a third-party payroll system used by Britain\u2019s Ministry of Defense, exposing the names and bank details [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45223,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/05\/07\/multimedia\/07uk-hack-zqlc\/07uk-hack-zqlc-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3593,16241,1076,7906,2328,46238,503],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45222"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45222"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45224,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45222\/revisions\/45224"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}