China blamed as Australia’s weather bureau hacked

China is being blamed for a cyber attack on Australias Bureau of Meteorology that may have compromised computer systems across the federal government, the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

The ABC did not know which government branches had been compromised or what information, if any, had been stolen.

The “massive” security cyber breach of one of Australia’s largest supercomputers could cost hundreds of millions of dollars to patch up and officials are pointing their fingers and the blame on China.

BoM provides to many government agencies and the public a wide range of data including: weather and climate forecasting, tsunami warnings, tide predictions, water resources and space conditions.

Similarly, BoM said it remains “fully operational”, though it did not deny the attack when asked. “Like all government agencies, we work closely with the Australian Government security agencies”.

There are no details on which systems have been affected or if any and whether information was taken, nor on why China was seen as the likely culprit.

The Chinese Embassy in ACT did not return calls for comment when contacted by Daily Mail Australia.

Beijing also dismissed accusations it was involved in the Australian hack, with external affairs agency spokeswoman Hua Chunying calling the report “groundless”. The US said the issue has put an “enormous strain” on their relationship.

A spokesman for Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said: “The Government’s aware of a press report that the Bureau has been the subject of a cyber attack”.

The defense department said in an e-mailed statement the government does not publicly discuss specific cyber activities or incidents.