UK targeted by hackers

Friday, 17 June 2005 12:00 AM

The nation's computer infrastructure is coming under persistent viral attack from sophisticated hackers, according to security experts.

Professional cybercriminals in Asia are believed to have delivered "industrial-strength" electronic attacks on the UK's critical national infrastructure (CNI) in a bid to eke out sensitive information.

The attacks have been ongoing for several months, the National Infrastructure Security Co-ordination Centre (NISCC) revealed, but said there was no evidence sensitive information had been seized.

The CNI is made up of nearly 300 British government departments and businesses, covering communications, energy, finance, health and transport.

Roger Cumming, director of NISCC, said: "We have never seen anything like this in terms of the industrial scale of this series of attacks.

"This is not a few hackers sitting in their bedrooms trying to steal bank account details from individuals. This is aimed at organisations, targeted at gaining information and is extremely well organised and well structured."

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