**Ministers Confirm Breach at UK Foreign Office, but Details Remain Murky**

A high-level cyberattack on the UK's Foreign Office has been confirmed by senior ministers, but the extent of the breach and its potential impact remain shrouded in mystery.

Trade minister Sir Chris Bryant acknowledged the attack during an interview with Times Radio on Friday, stating that "there certainly has been a hack" on the government's systems. However, he was quick to caution against speculating about the details of the incident, citing the ongoing investigation and the risk of spreading misinformation.

The news first broke in The Sun on Friday, which claimed that Chinese state-sponsored attackers were behind the intrusion and stole sensitive information related to tens of thousands of visa applications. However, Sir Chris dismissed these reports as "speculative," stating that many of the details reported by the British tabloid are still unclear.

"The front page of The Sun is slightly over-egging the details that are available at this stage," he said. "But the one thing I do want to reassure people about is that in our initial investigation we are pretty confident that no individual will be harmed."

According to Sir Chris, while there is evidence of a cyberattack, it is too early to confirm whether it was linked to Chinese operatives or the Chinese state. He noted that the UK's Foreign Office has been investigating the breach since October and that the investigation is ongoing.

"We have been engaged in an investigation since October," he explained. "Just as with JLR, M&S, the British Library, and a whole series of other cyberattacks, it does take some time to get to the bottom of exactly what's happened."

The Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO) declined to provide further details about the attack, stating only that they are "working to investigate a cyber incident" and that they "take the security of our systems and data extremely seriously."

Meanwhile, security researchers at Check Point Software have warned that Chinese cyber-espionage groups have compromised several dozen victims in their bid to expand spying efforts on European governments. While the UK was not specifically mentioned as one of the affected countries, the warning comes as a stark reminder of the ongoing threat posed by state-sponsored hackers.

As the UK continues to grapple with the fallout from the cyberattack, officials are reiterating their commitment to prioritizing cybersecurity and protecting sensitive information. The incident serves as a timely reminder of the ever-evolving nature of the cyber threat landscape and the need for continued vigilance and cooperation between governments, industry partners, and security researchers.

**Background**

The UK has repeatedly singled out China as an "epoch-defining challenge" in terms of cybersecurity threats. GCHQ director Anne Keast-Butler told CYBERUK in 2024 that more resources were spent on tackling the threat presented by China than any other UK intelligence mission.

"China poses a genuine and increasing cyber risk to the UK," she said at the time. "China has built an advanced set of cyber capabilities and is taking advantage of a growing commercial ecosystem of hacking outfits and data brokers at its disposal."

China is seen as the long-term threat, while Russia is viewed as the acute and powerful threat that requires significant resources and cooperation to tackle. As MI6 director Blaise Metreweli recently noted, the UK is currently operating in a "grey zone" between peace and war, with a growing number of geopolitical adversaries posing a significant challenge to national security.