to approve the embassy after MI5’s assessment, ahead of a visit to Beijing by the Prime Minister.UK (Washington Insider) - The UK confirmed a Foreign Office cyberattack, linked to China-based Storm-1849. MI5 warned MPs of Chinese spying. Ministers, including Grant Shapps, review security amid debate over Beijing’s London “super embassy.”
As Alexander Martin on The Record News reported, the British government confirmed on Friday, Dec 19, 2025, that data on a Foreign Office system was accessed in a cyber attack earlier this year. Officials said the breach posed only a “low risk” to people whose information may have been affected. The Sun newspaper reported the incident and said a China-based group called Storm-1849 was responsible.
It said the hackers
"accessed personal information, understood to possibly include tens of thousands of visa details."
What caused the UK Foreign Office hack?
Officials mentioned that at the same time, the group was reportedly taking advantage of weaknesses in a widely used line of Cisco firewalls. These firewalls are used by governments in Asia, Europe, and the United States. The Foreign Office did not reveal who carried out the attack or how the system was breached.
Speaking to broadcaster Sky News, the government's trade minister Sir Chris Bryant said:
"There certainly has been a hack at the FCDO [Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office] and we'veeen aware of that since October."
"The reporting has, I think, been a bit more speculation than accurate" while saying he could share "remarkably little" about the incident because "the investigation takes quite a long time."
Bryant said the government
"managed to close the hole, as it were, very quickly," and described the incident as "a technical issue in one of our sites" which had "a low risk of any individual actually being affected."
Officials were cautious about blaming Storm-1849 directly. This follows long-standing UK intelligence rules set after the Butler Review, which looked at mistakes in intelligence on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction. Under these rules, any public link between an attack and a group must be carefully checked.
The government said the breach involved important Foreign Office data but posed minimal risk to individuals. Officials emphasised the need to balance public transparency with national security.
The UK has recently confirmed links to many cyber attacks from China. Also, several Chinese businesses were involved in espionage against the UK and its partners. In the most recent example, 2 Chinese companies were subject to sanctions for providing support to the operations mentioned above.
The UK believes that both actions are part of a plan to protect the UK's national security and increase monitoring of threats from abroad. The government states that it is vital to safeguard sensitive government systems and share information with the public about these threats.
Beyond the involvement of companies, there are concerns regarding Chinese cyber activity concerning espionage against UK members of Parliament. In October last year, MI5 alerted MPs to the existence of Chinese spies contacting them through LinkedIn.
A government spokesperson said,
"We have been working to investigate a cyber incident. We take the security of our systems and data extremely seriously."
Earlier claims that China had accessed large amounts of sensitive government data in 2020 were described by officials as “categorically untrue.” In 2024, Defence Minister Grant Shapps called for caution after reports suggested China may have hacked a payment system used by the armed forces.
The Shadow Foreign Secretary, Priti Patel, on Friday, Dec 19, 2025, accused the government of
"failing to protect Britain from China's foreign interference in our country"
and said Prime Minister Keir Starmer
"kowtows to China at every opportunity and cannot be trusted to protect our national interest."
The issue is now part of a debate over Beijing’s plans to build a “super embassy” in London, which has raised concerns about spying. Reports say ministers are set.