14 DAY TRIAL // According to media reports, computers used by many Australian ministers, including Prime Minister Julia Gillard, have been compromised by hackers.
The Daily Telegraph reports that tens of thousands of emails stored on official computers might have been accessed without authorization.
The security breach was confirmed for the newspaper by four different official sources who said that Chinese intelligence agencies are among the suspects.
The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) is allegedly investigating the cyber attack after learning about it from the CIA and the FBI.
Apparently the breach did not involve ministerial computer networks, but the Australian Parliament House (APH) one where computers used by Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd, Defence Minister Stephen Smith and others were compromised.
Fortunately, these computers are mainly used for communication with members of Parliament and not for conducting sensitive government business.
Australia's Attorney-General Robert McClelland refused to confirm or deny the existence of a cyber attack citing the government's long standing practice of not commenting about intelligence operations.
"Australia's security and intelligence agencies, as a matter of course, work closely and co-operatively with their international counterparts on cyber security. The Australian Government takes the issue of cyber security very seriously and is constantly strengthening cyber security measures.
"Australia has in place a range of measures including the Cyber Security Operations Centre within the Defence Signals Directorate and a dedicated cyber investigations unit within the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO)," he told The Daily Telegraph.
News of this incident comes after a series of similar attacks affected official networks in other countries. In February, the British Foreign Office confirmed that several of its employees were targeted in spear phishing attacks.
The same month it was revealed that computers at three Canadian government departments were infected with malware. Last week the European Commission also dealt with a cyber attack on its network.