Foreign spies installed malicious software on an Australian government agency's computer system, stealing an unknown number of documents, an official report revealed Wednesday, stopping short of naming the country involved.
The security breach on the Bureau of Meteorology's system, which has connections to the defence department, was detected in 2015 and initial media reports linked it to China.
China has previously been accused of hacking websites run by the US government and by private firms. In 2013 Chinese hackers were accused of stealing the top-secret blueprints of Australia's new intelligence agency headquarters.