SAS heroes and missions are at risk of being exposed in a major military payroll hack by “evil actors”

The heroes and missions of the SAS are at risk of being exposed by a major hack of the armed forces payroll.

“Bad actors” are said to have accessed up to 270,000 Ministry of Defense payment records and thousands of addresses.

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The hack was only discovered last week and yesterday Defense Secretary Grant Shapps told the Commons that state involvement could not be ruled out.

Despite pressure to name China, he refused to do so, saying the government did not have conclusive evidence at this time.

Sources insist the names of soldiers from the SAS, SBS and Special Reconnaissance Regiment are not on the stolen lists.

But spies could compare them with open source name records – including social media posts before soldiers joined special units.

Former Army spy Philip Ingram warned: “State hackers like China vacuum everything up and then use artificial intelligence to piece together a picture.

“If a piece of data is missing, it raises suspicions. A lack of information about where you expect something to be is an indicator to look harder.”

Experts fear that hackers may also consider paying special status to those in high-value roles such as special forces and pilots.

High-profile victims could include Bond star Daniel Craig – an honorary Navy commander – as well as Home Secretary James Cleverly and Conservative MP Penny Mordauntwho are reservists.

The Sun understands the hack targeted contractor SSCL, which also works for the Home Office, the Met and nuclear agencies.

In 2020, SSCL suffered a similar attack when it lost control of prison officers’ data.