Canadian spy agency says Chinese hacked into NRC computers, network shut down

OTTAWA -- The federal government says Chinese hackers have infiltrated the computer systems at the National Research Council.

Officials say there is no evidence that other government computer systems or data have been compromised.

But the Treasury Board says the NRC's computers have been isolated from the rest of the government's systems as a precaution.

In a statement, the government says one of Canada's spy agencies, the Communications Security Establishment, detected and confirmed the cyber attack.

It says the intrusion came from "a highly sophisticated Chinese state-sponsored actor."

The National Research Council says it has taken action to protect its information holdings.

And the government says Canada's security agencies and IT experts are helping the NRC to build a new secure computer network.