Government data stolen in hack, minister confirms

Government data has been stolen in a hack, the trade minister has confirmed, who said that officials had since "managed to close the loophole" that allowed information to be taken.

Trade Minister Chris Bryant told BBC Breakfast "an investigation is ongoing", and that officials "simply do not know" who was behind the breach.

The comments came after the Sun newspaper reported Chinese state-affiliated hackers had accessed systems operated on the Home Office's behalf by the Foreign Office, whose staff detected the incident, in October.

Bryant said he was aware of "speculation" but added "I can't confirm whether that is true or not, we simply don't know as yet".

The minister continued: "We've been talking to the Information Commissioner about precisely who may or may not have been affected, but we think that it's a fairly low-risk that individuals will have been compromised or affected."

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