US EditionChinese hackers targeted top UK officials: Report
Chinese state-linked hackers targeted phones of senior UK government aides from 2021 to 2024 to gather political intelligence, though success of the operation remains unconfirmed.
- The Daily Telegraph reported the operation ran from 2021 to 2024, targeting mobile phones of senior Downing Street officials and aides to Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak.
- China has sought political intelligence on MPs and decision-makers in British politics, and UK security sources say it has targeted Britain’s telecommunications systems more broadly while downplaying success claims.
- Reports note earlier incidents, including a 2022 hack of Liz Truss’s phone, while Boris Johnson was warned to stop using his private mobile and technical experts recovered WhatsApp messages, with agents suspected of working for Russia initially blamed.
- Senior former government figures said they did not recognise the Telegraph’s account and MI5 would have known of any surveillance, while UK security services' investigations found no evidence the operation succeeded.
- Critics say the hacking claims demand a rethink of China policy, with Alicia Kearns and MPs urging a tougher stance and warning phones should be assumed targetable.
28 Articles
28 Articles
Computer pirates sponsored by Beijing would have tapped the phones of some of the closest advisors to former prime ministers Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak between 2021 and 2024 Read
For years Chinese hackers would have spyed on Downing Street phones, hitting collaborators of Prime Minister Johnson, Truss and Sunak. The attack, discovered in 2024, rekindles the security alarm in relations with Beijing
Informational pirates at Pequim's service placed audiences on the telephones of advisors from Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak. Research comes at the evenings of the visit from Starmer to China.
Newslinks for Tuesday the 27th Jan 2026
China targeted the phones of Tory No.10 aides under successive Prime Ministers, and still hasn’t stopped “China hacked the mobile phones of senior officials in Downing Street for several years, The Telegraph can disclose. The spying operation is understood to have compromised senior members of the government, exposing their private communications to Beijing. State-sponsored hackers are known to have targeted the phones of some of the closest aid…
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- 77% of the sources lean Right
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