Tuesday 1 November 2022 08:46 PM Chinese Government hackers are the biggest threat to UK's cyber security, ... trends now

China’s bid for technical supremacy through its army of hackers poses the biggest single threat to Britain’s future cyber security, a report warned yesterday.

The head of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) Lindy Cameron said China’s rapid technical development and global espionage threatens our national security.

She spoke out as a new taskforce was announced yesterday to protect British democratic institutions from foreign interference by hostile states.

Security minister Tom Tugendhat told MPs a new body will look at both physical and online threats to MPs.

The development comes after it was revealed last week that Liz Truss’s personal phone was hacked while she was foreign secretary by Moscow’s agents.

Yesterday an annual review by the NCSC warned of the ‘acute’ online threat to the UK posed by hostile states including China, Russia, Iran and North Korea.

Miss Cameron suggested China posed the biggest threat to UK interests.

She said: ‘China’s technical development and evolution is likely to be the single biggest factor affecting the UK’s cyber security in the years to come.’

The NCSC report warned: ‘Chinese cyber forces are by far the largest in the world.

‘Since taking power nearly a decade ago, President Xi has overseen extensive reform of China’s intelligence and military apparatus, with a key priority being the fusion of military and civilian cyber capabilities.

‘Since then, China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) has emerged as a prolific and pervasive actor in cyberspace, undertaking a substantial global espionage campaign to meet political, socio-economic, and strategic objectives.’