US EditionChinese hackers targeted top UK officials: Report
Chinese state-linked hackers targeted mobile phones of senior UK officials from 2021 to 2024 to obtain political intelligence, UK security sources say.
- 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.
17 Articles
17 Articles
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…
China ‘hacked senior Downing Street officials’ phones for years’ as Labour ‘rewards hostility’
Chinese state-sponsored hackers infiltrated the phones of senior Downing Street officials over several years, according to reports disclosed on Monday evening.The cyber-espionage campaign, known as Salt Typhoon, is believed to have compromised close advisers to three successive prime ministers between 2021 and 2024, The Telegraph has revealed. Individuals working alongside Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak were said to be targeted, potent…
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- 71% of the sources lean Right
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