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.
