Chinese-made cameras mounted on British military sea drones were found to be secretly transmitting data to China although the Ministry of Defence (MoD) denies a data breach, according to a report by The Telegraph.
A fleet of K3 Scout surveillance drones have been used by the Royal Marines since March 2026 and are due to be deployed for special forces missions in the Gulf.
During a routine cyber vulnerability assessment of the drones, the MoD discovered that their cameras were sending what is known as a squark to a Chinese IP address. Also reffered to as a heartbeat communication, a squark signal confirms that a device is powered on and connected, however it can also carry location information.
According to The Telegraph report, the MoD was forced to remove all internet connectivity from the cameras after discovering the breach.
An MoD spokesperson insisted that there was no evidence that any sensitive data or systems had been sent abroad adding that the department took “security of our...