Foreign states targeting sensitive research at UK universities, MI5 warns

MI5’s director general, Ken McCallum, said hostile states were targeting universities, such as Cambridge, to ‘deliver their authoritarian military and commercial priorities’. Photograph: Imran Khan/Alamy

MI5 has warned universities that hostile foreign states are targeting sensitive research, as ministers consider measures to bolster protections.

Vice-chancellors from 24 leading institutions, including Oxford, Cambridge and Imperial College London, were briefed on the threat by the domestic security service’s director general, Ken McCallum, and National Cybersecurity Centre (NCSC) chief, Felicity Oswald.