GCHQ boss says China's 'genuine' cyber threat 'weakens security of internet for all'

Mickey Carroll

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GCHQ now "devotes more resource to China than any other single mission," according to the intelligence agency's director, Anne Keast-Butler.

China poses an "epoch-defining challenge" to the UK, she said at CyberUK, the National Cyber Security Centre's conference in Birmingham.

Last week, Sky News discovered China had hacked the Ministry of Defence's payroll system and in March, Chinese hackers were accused of stealing data about UK voters from the Electoral Commission.

After news about last week's attack, China's foreign ministry said it "firmly opposes and fights all forms of cyber attacks" and "rejects the use of this issue politically to smear other countries".

However, the UK's cyber security leaders are clear.