UK confirms cyberattack on foreign office systems, risk to individuals deemed low

The British government has confirmed a cyberattack on systems linked to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, with officials assessing the risk to individuals as low and saying the security vulnerability was swiftly closed.

Trade Minister Chris Bryant said the breach was detected in October on systems operated by the Foreign Office on behalf of the Home Office. An investigation remains ongoing, and authorities have not confirmed who carried out the attack.

“There certainly has been a hack,” Bryant said in broadcast interviews, adding that the technical issue was identified and contained quickly. He said the government is confident that there is a low risk of any individual being compromised or harmed as a result of the incident.

The compromised systems are understood to have held government data, with some reports suggesting visa-related information may have been among the material accessed. Officials have not confirmed the nature or volume of the data involved.

A Chinese-affiliated hacking group has been suspected in public reporting, but Bryant said investigators do not yet know who was responsible and cautioned against speculation. He said attribution in cyber incidents can take significant time and remains uncertain at this stage.

The incident has been referred to the U.K.’s data protection regulator, the Information Commissioner’s Office. A government spokesperson said officials are working to investigate the cyber incident and stressed that the security of government systems and data is treated with the highest priority.

Foreign Office staff identified the intrusion, and the affected systems were secured soon after discovery, Bryant said. He described cyber intrusions against government infrastructure as an ongoing challenge, noting that public-sector systems are frequent targets.

The breach comes amid heightened concern within the U.K. government about cyber espionage. British intelligence agencies have warned of increasing large-scale cyber activity linked to China, targeting commercial and political information. The country’s signals intelligence agency, GCHQ, has previously said it devotes more resources to countering cyber threats from China than from any other nation.

The Chinese government has consistently denied involvement in cyberattacks against the United Kingdom, rejecting accusations of state-backed hacking as unfounded.