FBI to probe China's role in hacking Google mail

Published on Thursday 2 June 2011 15:48

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton yesteday said that Google's allegations of Chinese hacking of its e-mail system were "very serious" and would be investigated by the FBI.

Google said the hundreds of accounts affected included the personal e-mail of senior US officials.

Mrs Clinton said: "These allegations are very serious. We take them seriously. We are looking into them."

She declined to comment further on the matter, referring questions to both Google and "to the FBI which will be conducting the investigation".

Google said on Wednesday that Gmail accounts of several hundred people, including US officials, military personnel and political activists, had been hacked.

Google traced the attacks to Jinan, China, the home city of a military school linked to a more sophisticated assault 17 months ago on Google's systems.

Mrs Clinton said attacks such as the one alleged by Google were a prime reason the State Department had appointed a cyber-security co-ordinator.

She said: "We know this is going to be a continuing problem and, therefore, we want to be as prepared as possible to deal with these matters when they do come to our attention."

A day after Google exposed the breach, China denied on Thursday that it had supported hacking. It said it was part of global efforts to combat computer security threats.

Foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said: "Allegations that the Chinese government supports hacking activities are completely unfounded and made with ulterior motives."

Google said all of the hacking victims have been notified and their accounts secured.