The UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) was the victim of a significant cyber-attack last October, a government minister has confirmed.
Details of the FCDO Security Breach
Trade minister Chris Bryant publicly acknowledged the incident, stating that the government had been aware of the cyber-attack since October. The revelation followed a report by The Sun newspaper on Friday, which claimed the breach was carried out by a Chinese state-linked hacking group known as Storm 1849.
The newspaper alleged that the compromised data could include tens of thousands of visa application details. It also reported that Storm 1849 has previously been accused of targeting politicians and organisations critical of the Chinese government.
Uncertainty Over the Attack's Origin
However, when pressed on whether the Chinese state was definitively behind the intrusion, Minister Bryant offered a more cautious assessment. "That's not entirely clear," he told Sky News. He suggested that some media reporting on the incident had contained "a bit more speculation than accurate" information.
Bryant sought to reassure the public regarding the potential impact, adding, "We're fairly confident that there's a low risk of any individual actually being affected by this." A government spokesperson echoed this stance in a statement to The Guardian, emphasising that "We take the security of our systems and data extremely seriously" and that an investigation into the cyber incident was ongoing.
Ongoing Investigation and Response
The confirmation places a major government department at the centre of a serious international cybersecurity incident. While the full scale and precise nature of the data accessed remains under investigation, the breach highlights the persistent threat faced by national institutions.
The government's public response has so far balanced confirmation of the attack with a downplaying of immediate personal risk and ambiguity over attribution. The work to investigate the October cyber-attack and bolster defences continues within the FCDO.
