Belgian computers attacked by Chinese hackers

May 8, 2008 07:36 GMT  ·  By

Belgium is the latest country attacked by Chinese hackers who attempted to break into the state's computers in order to conduct cyberespionage activities, the Belgian officials warned a few days ago according to UPI. The Justice Minister Jo Vandeurzen sustains that Chinese hackers may have sent dangerous emails containing malicious software to Belgian computers in order to steal certain information. The reason? The European Union and NATO are headquartered in Brussels, so attacking Belgian computers may bring back sensitive information, UPI explains.

Since we're talking about a security issue, security companies around the world came out and explained that today's hackers are extremely wise and their techniques can even allow them to infiltrate into official computers. This underlines, once again, the need for high-end security technologies that would be able to protect the data stored on the targeted computers.

"There simply isn't enough evidence to say whether these attacks were sponsored by the Chinese government or not, but these reports do underline the importance of everyone making computer security a priority," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos.

"Cyberhackers can cover their tracks, leapfrogging from computer to computer around the world, making it very hard to determine precisely who is behind an attack. Governments need to think carefully before accusing another of spying via the internet unless they have strong proof. There is no doubt, however, of the importance of securing critical computers inside government from hackers whether motivated by politics, espionage or money."

This is not the first time when such accusations target the Chinese government because similar cases also occurred in the past. Back in 2007, Chinese hackers were suspected of an infiltration into the Pentagon computers which obviously, could result in a huge and important data loss affecting millions of people.