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Chinese hackers
have stolen the blueprints of a new multi-million-dollar Australian spy
headquarters as part of a growing wave of cyber attacks against business
and military targets in the close U.S. ally, a Australian news report
said.
The hackers also stole confidential information from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, which houses the overseas spy agency the Australian Secret Intelligence Service, Australia`s ABC Television said late on Monday.
The government refused to confirm the security breach.
Foreign Minister Bob Carr said the report would not damage Canberra`s ties with its biggest trade partner China.
"We have enormous areas of cooperation with China. I won`t comment on whether the Chinese have done what is being alleged or not," Carr told reporters on Tuesday.
Hackers using a computer server traced to China had stolen floorplans of a new A$630 million headquarters for the Australia Security Intelligence Organisation, the country`s domestic spy agency, said the ABC report.
The attack through the computers of a construction contractor exposed not only building layouts, but also the location of communication and computer networks, said the ABC.
Australia security analyst Des Ball told the ABC in the report that such information made the yet to be completed spy headquarters vulnerable to future cyber attacks.
The ASIO building, being built near the location of Australia`s top secret Defence Signals Directorate, is supposed to have some of the most sophisticated hacking defences in the country, which is part of a global electronic intelligence gathering network including the United States and the UK.
The Reserve Bank of Australia said in March that it had been targeted by cyber attacks, but no data had been lost or systems compromised amid reports the hackers had tried to access intelligence on Group of 20 wealthy nations negotiations.
In the United States, the Pentagon`s latest annual report on Chinese military developments accused Beijing for the first time of trying to break into U.S. defense networks, calling it "a serious concern".
The hackers also stole confidential information from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, which houses the overseas spy agency the Australian Secret Intelligence Service, Australia`s ABC Television said late on Monday.
The government refused to confirm the security breach.
Foreign Minister Bob Carr said the report would not damage Canberra`s ties with its biggest trade partner China.
"We have enormous areas of cooperation with China. I won`t comment on whether the Chinese have done what is being alleged or not," Carr told reporters on Tuesday.
Hackers using a computer server traced to China had stolen floorplans of a new A$630 million headquarters for the Australia Security Intelligence Organisation, the country`s domestic spy agency, said the ABC report.
The attack through the computers of a construction contractor exposed not only building layouts, but also the location of communication and computer networks, said the ABC.
Australia security analyst Des Ball told the ABC in the report that such information made the yet to be completed spy headquarters vulnerable to future cyber attacks.
The ASIO building, being built near the location of Australia`s top secret Defence Signals Directorate, is supposed to have some of the most sophisticated hacking defences in the country, which is part of a global electronic intelligence gathering network including the United States and the UK.
The Reserve Bank of Australia said in March that it had been targeted by cyber attacks, but no data had been lost or systems compromised amid reports the hackers had tried to access intelligence on Group of 20 wealthy nations negotiations.
In the United States, the Pentagon`s latest annual report on Chinese military developments accused Beijing for the first time of trying to break into U.S. defense networks, calling it "a serious concern".
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