‘Imperative’ to protect Britons from malign state actors online, says UK

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A UK minister has warned it is “imperative” that Britons are protected from malign state actors online, ahead of an expected government attribution of a cyber attack on the electoral watchdog to China.

Andrew Bowie, nuclear energy minister, said on Monday that the government took Britain’s cyber security “incredibly seriously” and would reveal new “steps we are going to take” later in the day.

Oliver Dowden, deputy prime minister, is expected to tell the House of Commons that Beijing-linked hackers were responsible for a raft of cyber attacks against MPs and peers, plus a big attack on the Electoral Commission last year.

Bowie told Times Radio: “It is imperative that democracy, freedom of speech and that British nationals are protected online from any malign influence and that includes from malign actors, be that state actors or other actors.”

While ministers are anxious about the UK becoming “over-reliant” on Chinese technology, Chinese company EVE Energy is considering investing in a new gigafactory in the West Midlands, which would produce batteries for electric vehicles.

Bowie insisted the UK must adopt a “grown-up, pragmatic relationship” with China. “That means looking at each of these investments in the round, on a case-by-case basis, ensuring that our security and our individual liberties and freedoms are not undermined by any of the investments that are under way,” he told LBC.

He added that the government would “stop at nothing to ensure that the British people, our democracy, our freedom of speech and our way of life is defended”.

At midday on Monday, Alison Giles, parliament’s head of security, gave a briefing to a group of parliamentarians on cyber attacks by individuals or organisations linked to the Chinese state.

Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith, former Conservative minister Tim Loughton, Scottish National party MP Stewart McDonald and crossbench peer Lord David Alton have been summoned to the meeting, according to government officials.

All four are members of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, an international network of legislators who are hawkish on Beijing.

Luke de Pulford, Ipac executive director, said that if the briefing confirmed that the MPs and peer had been subject to cyber attacks from China, “it wouldn’t be the first time our members have been targeted”.

“Three foreign ministries have confirmed Beijing sponsored cyber attacks, and two — Belgium and France — took the unusual step of doing so publicly,” he said.

“Hopefully this is a sign that the UK is breaking free of its Stockholm syndrome over China, and that our government will finally admit the obvious truth that Xi’s China is our biggest security threat,” de Pulford added.

The UK government has formally branded China an “epoch-defining challenge” to the international order but has stopped short of labelling it a “threat”.

Reforms to British laws governing spying are going through parliament, while MPs began debating the investigatory powers (amendment) bill — which would make it easier for the intelligence agencies to collect data from tech companies — in the Commons on Monday.