China has been hacking into British government systems for over 10 years, - Bloomberg
For more than ten years, China has been systematically hacking into British government systems, gaining access to low- and medium-level classified documents. The data obtained included confidential documents on government policy, private communications, and some diplomatic telegrams.
According to Censor.NET, this was reported by Bloomberg.
At the same time, a spokesperson for the British government emphasised that the highest level of secrecy remained intact. The spokesperson noted that top-secret information requiring maximum protection had not been compromised despite years of attempts by China to gain access.
According to sources, the security breach was detected at a London data centre that stored confidential government information and was sold to a China-linked organisation during the Conservative government. Ministers at the time considered destroying the centre before it could be secured by other means.
The revelations came amid political pressure on Prime Minister Keir Starmer over his policy on China after British prosecutors failed to secure convictions for two men accused of spying for Beijing. According to the Crown Prosecution Service, the failure of the case was linked to previous governments' refusal to officially recognise China as a threat to national security.
Dominic Cummings, former chief of staff to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, said that vast amounts of data classified as top secret had been compromised. Former Security Minister Tom Tugendhat confirmed this information but did not provide details.
