Defence secretary names contractor running MoD system hacked by China

A company has been named in parliament as the contractor running the Ministry of Defence’s payroll that was hacked by China – an accusation the country has denied.

Labour’s shadow defence secretary John Healey claimed in the House of Commons on Tuesday that SSCL (Shared Services Connected Ltd) is the contractor after Sky News revealed the night before that the Chinese state had hacked the Armed Forces’ payroll system.

China has said the accusations were “completely fabricated and malicious slanders”.

Defence Secretary Grant Shapps gave a statement to MPs on Tuesday about the hack – but he initially did not say who was behind it or which company was running the payroll.

In response, Mr Healey said the cabinet minster had “many serious questions to answer”, and went onto claim that “Shared Services Connected Ltd has the MOD contract for core payroll and other business services”.

Mr Shapps then said that was correct and he has asked for a review of their work across government.

Mr Shapps said: “He has named the contractor that was involved, I can confirm that’s the correct name, SSCL.

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“I’ve requested from the Cabinet Office a full review of their work across government as well as within MoD, which is underway.”

He also said there is evidence of “potential failings” leading to the system being hacked and that up to 272,000 service personnel may have been hit by the data breach.

Names, addresses and bank details of current Army, Royal Navy and RAF personnel and some veterans were exposed by the hack.

SSCL is a subsidiary of the Paris-based tech company Sopra Steria. The company is the largest provider of business support services for the government and the UK military, as well as the Metropolitan Police Service.

Its website says it provides payroll, HR and pension services to 230,000 military personnel and reservists, and two million veterans, with a “wholly safe and secure service” that is “data protected to the highest levels”.

Rishi Sunak earlier refused to name China as the hacker but said Beijing has “fundamentally different values to ours” and it is “acting in a way that is more authoritarian and assertive abroad”.

The prime minister said he wanted to reassure people the MoD has already removed the network, taken it offline and is “making sure the people affected are supported in the right way”.

A spokesman for the Chinese embassy in London denied the country had anything to do with an MoD hack and said it had made “relevant responses” to accusations on the 25 and 27 March.

He accused the UK of politicising cyber security and claimed there was no factual evidence of China hacking the MoD.

Sky News has approached SSCL and Sopra Steria for a comment.

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