Australia alleges China of cyber attacks on its weather bureau
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CANBERRA: China is being blamed for a major cyber attack on the computers at the Bureau of Meteorology, which has compromised sensitive systems across the Federal Government. Multiple official sources have confirmed the recent attack, and the ABC has been told it will cost millions of dollars to plug the security breach, as other agencies have also been affected. The bureau owns one of Australia's largest supercomputers and provides critical information to a host of agencies. Its systems straddle the nation, including one link into the Department of Defence at Russell Offices in Canberra. Cyber attacks on government agencies are routine and the "adversaries" range from thrill-seeking hackers, through to criminals and foreign states. But the ABC has been told this is a "massive" breach and one official said there was little doubt where it came from. "It's China," he said. But, China has denied any involvement in the attack. "As we have reiterated on many occasions, the Chinese government is opposed to all forms of cyber attacks," Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said. "We have stressed that cyber security needs to be based on mutual respect. "We believe it is not constructive to make groundless accusations or speculation." Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) executive director Peter Jennings said there was evidence China was behind the hack. (Australian Broadcast corporation)