UK to detail Chinese cybersecurity threat

London — Britain will give details of the cybersecurity threat it says is posed by China on Monday, and may blame Beijing for a hack on its electoral watchdog, as worries about interference grow before an election expected later in 2024.

Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden is due to make a statement on the issue to parliament on Monday, a government official said, declining to confirm whether he would also announce reprisals including sanctions.

There has been growing anxiety about China’s alleged espionage activity in Britain, particularly after it emerged in 2023 that a parliamentary researcher was arrested on suspicion of spying for China.

A group of British MPs who are well known critics of China have been called to a briefing by parliament’s director of security on Monday, a source said.

Before Dowden’s statement in parliament, British media also reported that the government was expected to blame Beijing for a hack on the country's Electoral Commission. The attack dates back to 2021 and was disclosed in 2023, and allowed hostile actors to access the details of millions of voters.

The government said in 2023 that Chinese spies were targeting British officials in sensitive positions in politics, defence and business as part of an increasingly sophisticated spying operation to gain access to secrets.

The Chinese embassy in London did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In 2023, the embassy accused the British government of "making groundless accusations" when the head of MI5 accused China of carrying out an espionage campaign on an "epic scale".

Britain’s domestic intelligence service MI5 has said it is now running seven times as many investigations into Chinese activity as it did in 2018, and plans more.

In 2022, MI5 issued a rare security alert, warning MPs that a suspected Chinese spy was “involved in political interference activities” in Britain. 

Reuters