Defence Secretary Grant Shapps will address parliament today concerning a recent hack into the Ministry of Defence (MoD) payroll system.

The government was made aware of the attack just days before, and it is still uncertain what specific information was accessed.

The MoD system hacked does include names and bank details of personnel in the British armed forces, and in some cases, personal addresses.

The government has so far not found evidence that data from the system, which was managed by an external contractor, was stolen, but is conducting an investigation as if it did.

It has been reported that, while the defence secretary will not disclose a specific culprit, the government suspects that China is behind the attack.

However, investigations are at the early stages and take months or even years to piece together, so it will take time before enough evidence is gathered to disclose suspects.

Both Sky News and the BBC have reported to “understand” the culprit behind the attacks to be China.

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In response, 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,” as reported by Sky.

The hacked system was not connected to main MoD computer systems, and has been taken down. The MoD will provide service members advice and support to ensure they are not concerned about their safety.

While it is uncertain what entity is behind the attack, the implication that it was China could put the UK at risk of cooperating with countries that currently have strenuous relations with the country.