Ministry of Defence has been 'hacked by China' on its' payroll system with 'details of serving personnel compromised'

The Chinese state has hacked the Ministry of Defence, it has been reported tonight.

MPs are set to be told about the massive data breach - which targeted service personnel - tomorrow.

The government has not named the country involved, but Sky News understands it to be China.

The cyberattack was on a payroll system with current service personnel as well as a number of officials and veterans.

Their names and bank details are amongst the information that has been exposed.

China stands accused of making two or three attempts to attack MoD employees.

The contractor system is not connected to the main MoD computer systems and has been taken down with a review launched.

This is a breaking news story. More to follow.