China-linked group accused of spying on phones of UK prime ministers' aides – for years

Reports allege that Chinese state-linked hackers (likely Salt Typhoon) spent years embedded in telecom networks and accessed phones used by senior Downing Street aides since around 2021, allowing collection of call logs, location data and potentially messages or calls; the intrusions were discovered in 2024 and are described as highly sophisticated, widespread, and difficult to detect or fully remediate.