UK armed forces personnel bank data accessed in Ministry of Defence hack

All serving members of the armed forces’ bank details may have been compromised following a hack of a third-party payroll system used by the Ministry of Defence.

An MoD source told ITV News the hack had happened in recent days and hit a network that was “completely external to core systems.”

The government has now launched an investigation into how the hack happened with MPs expected to be updated on the breach on Tuesday.

The investigation will be looking at potential failings of the contractor but the government will not be naming them at this time.

The department took immediate action when it discovered the breach by taking the external network offline.

It is understood that initial investigations have found no evidence that data has been removed.

The details of all serving personnel, reservists and a small number of veterans have been impacted.

The details accessed include names, bank details and in a small number of cases their personal address.

Affected service personnel will be alerted as a precaution and provided with specialist advice.

In response, the government has purchased a personal data protection service that impacted individuals will be able to use to check whether their information is being used or an attempt is being made to use it.

It is understood despite the hack and the subsequent taking down of the payroll system all serving personnel will be paid on time this month.

Some small expenses like hotels and taxis may be delayed but the MoD source said “no one is going to be out of pocket from this.”