US State Department Fends Off Asian Hacker Attack

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by Staff Writers
Washington(AFP) Jul 12, 2006
The US State Department said it was conducting a forensic probe Wednesday after hackers in East Asia tapped into computer systems at its Washington headquarters and diplomatic posts in the region.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said no classified government information was lost in the strike, which reportedly targeted the bureau in the department dealing with North Korea and China.

"Our folks monitored this attempt and took immediate steps to prevent any loss of sensitive US government information," McCormack said, downplaying an incident he said has sparked "breathless reporting" by some outlets.

He said the operation was "a textbook example of how you detect, monitor and immediately address a challenge to the integrity of a computer system, in terms of cyber-security efforts."

"These are unclassified systems that don't deal with classified material in any way, shape or form."

The attack had started on US posts in East Asia, then "migrated" to Washington, he said. McCormack did not identify the home base of the hackers, but the Washington Post reported the attack originated in China.

Source: Agence France-Presse

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