In an emergency statement to the House of Commons, Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden said the National Cyber Security Center believed a hacker group linked to the Chinese state was “very likely” to have attacked the UK’s Electoral Commission’s electronic systems in the 2021- 22.
In addition, London accuses the also-aligned Chinese state hacking group APT31 of “almost certainly” attempting in 2021 to gain access to the details of four members of the House of Commons and Lords, staunch critics of Beijing.
Mr Dowden assured that these cyber-attacks did not affect electoral processes and did not compromise parliamentary electronic accounts.
Nevertheless, in the first case, access was gained to the private details of millions of citizens registered in the electoral rolls.
As the Foreign Office emphasized in a statement, “this is the latest activity in a clear pattern of malicious cyber activity by organizations linked to the Chinese state.”
Mr Dowden announced in London’s response the imposition of sanctions against a company and two individuals linked to APT31.
As it became known during the session in the House of Commons, the Chinese ambassador in London has been summoned to the Foreign Office for explanations. The Chinese embassy responded by dismissing the accusations as false and slanderous.
Mr Dowden defended the government’s response to criticism from MPs that it was “too little, too late”, saying it took time to gather and examine the evidence about who was behind the cyber attacks.
Meanwhile, sources in the Daily Telegraph have said there is concern in British government echelons about the involvement of “enemy states” such as Russia, Iran and China in peddling conspiracy theories about Princess of Wales Kate Middleton.
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