The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office building. EPA Yonhap News

The UK Foreign Office (FCO) suffered a large-scale cyberattack last October, resulting in the theft of some data, British media including the BBC reported on the 19th (local time).

Chris Bryant, the UK's Deputy Minister for Trade of the Department for Business and Trade, said on the BBC on the same day, "There was a hacking incident at the Foreign Office, and an investigation is underway."

The stolen data was reportedly on a system that the FCO was operating for the Home Office. It is said that an FCO employee was the one who became aware of the incident.

Earlier, the tabloid The Sun reported that a hacking group linked to Chinese state agencies had accessed classified documents and data of the Foreign Office, potentially including tens of thousands of visa applications.

However, Minister Bryant stated, "We do not yet know who is behind it" and added, "The risk of individuals being harmed is quite low."

In recent years, allegations of Chinese hackers attacking UK government agencies have continued to surface, but the Chinese government has denied them, stating that it has never supported cyberattacks targeting the UK.

This incident occurred at a sensitive time, about a month before UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer's visit to China. The British Prime Minister's visit to China would be the first since former Prime Minister Theresa May's visit during the Conservative government in 2018.

The Starmer government has been seeking to improve relations with China to boost the economy.

There are also speculations that the Starmer government will soon approve a plan to build a Chinese embassy in the UK, which has been delayed for years. The plan to build the Chinese embassy was previously put on hold due to security concerns, as it is located near a route for fiber optic cables leading to the City of London, a financial hub.