White House 'a victim of cyber warfare'

Nov 11 2008 4:13PM

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Hackers have managed to penetrate the White House computer network on several occasions, it has been revealed.

A Senior US official told the Financial Times that cyber attackers have gained access to the buildings systems many times and have even obtained e-mails sent between government officials.

Experts believe the source of the hackers is China and it is also thought that their actions could be backed by the nation's government, although their actual location is hard to pin-point for certain.

"We are getting very targeted Chinese attacks so it stretches credulity that these are not directed by government-related organisations," the official told the newspaper.

The hackers had been able to access White House computes for brief periods before the system was patched, he added.

Last week, Mark Oram, head of the threat and infosec knowledge department at the Centre for Protection of National Infrastructure, warned that cyber criminals are difficult to catch because of the manner in which they operate.