Defense Minister Grant Shapps will make a statement in the House of Commons this afternoon on the matter.
The Sky News station reported the suspicion that Chinese hackers were behind the attack, but the Government did not confirm who was responsible for the attack.
The Chinese Embassy in the UK called the suggestion of involvement “completely fabricated and malicious slurs”.
“China does not encourage, support or tolerate cyberattacks. At the same time, we oppose the politicization of cybersecurity issues and the baseless defamation of other countries without factual evidence,” said a spokesperson for the diplomatic mission.
The leak occurred in a salary payment system belonging to a third-party company that holds the bank details of all serving armed forces personnel and some veterans.
In some cases, addresses may also have been exposed. To date, researchers have found no evidence that the data was removed.
Tobias Elwood, a former military officer and former chairman of the parliamentary defense committee, argued that the attack has all the characteristics of a Chinese computer attack.
“The use of employee names and bank details points to China,” he told the BBC.
“It could be part of a plan, part of a strategy,” he added.
The news prompted other Conservative MPs critical of the Chinese regime to renew pressure on British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to toughen London’s stance.
In March, the United Kingdom and the United States alleged that hackers linked to the Chinese government had targeted officials, MPs, journalists, businesses, pro-democracy activists and the British electoral commission in a campaign of “malicious” cyberattacks.
The two countries imposed sanctions on several people and named alleged hackers, who are all believed to be living in China.
Beijing rejected these accusations at the time.
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