The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) has claimed that Chinese hackers have stolen the highly confidential blueprints of the agency’s new AU$631m headquarters in Canberra.
Reports reveal that the theft of the blueprints occurred after hackers intensified a cyber attack on a contractor involved in construction of the new building and the plans were reportedly traced to a server in China.
The leakage of the plan could potentially cause danger to the whole organisation by making it vulnerable to attack.
Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr was quated by Sky News as saying that the plot would not threaten bilateral ties between Australia and China.
"I won’t comment on whether the Chinese have done what is being alleged or not," Carr said.
"I won’t comment on matters of intelligence and security for the obvious reason: we don’t want to share with the world and potential aggressors what we know about what they might be doing, and how they might be doing it."
Being built near Australia’s top secret Defence Signals Directorate, the new ASIO building is believed to house some of the most sophisticated hacking defences in the country, while its construction had been hit with delays and cost overruns.
