The United Kingdom was the target of a cyberattack of Chinese origin on May 7, 2024. The hackers allegedly tried to recover information on the British military.
Massive Chinese cyberattack targeted UK Ministry of Defense, British TV reveals SkyNews this May 7, 2024. Hackers targeted a payroll system including the information of tens of thousands of members of the British armed forces. The authorities want to be reassuring and believe that there was no data theft, despite the scale of the attack.
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The salary payment system is managed by a private contractor. The latter is not connected to the main networks of the Ministry of Defense and has been dismantled. Further information should be provided by the government during the day.
This is the second time in two months that the United Kingdom has been the target of Beijing hackers. Last March, Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden said Chinese hackers had hacked MPs and the UK Electoral Commission.
At the time, a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in London said : “ China's alleged cyberattacks on the UK are completely fabricated and malicious smears. »
Chinese cyberattacks against French MEPs
Chinese President Xi Jinping began a tour of Europe on Monday May 6, beginning his trip with a meeting with Emmanuel Macron in Paris. At the same time, MEP François-Xavier Bellamyhead of the Les Républicains (LR) list for the European elections, announced on X (ex-Twitter) filed a complaint after being the subject of an attempted cyberattack by a group of Chinese hackers.
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ANSSI, the French administration's cyber sentinel, has already reported cyberattacks originating from China in France. Most often, these involve cyberespionage operations, a method in which China has specialized. An investigation recently revealed that the car manufacturer Volkswagen was spied on for five years by Chinese Communist Party hackers.