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BEIJING, CHINA - JULY 29: Canada's Foreign Minister John Baird (L) takes part in a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi before a meeting at the Foreign Ministry on July 29, 2014 in Beijing, China. Baird traveled to China for the meeting at the invitation of Foreign Minister Yi. (Photo by Ng Han Guan-Pool/Getty Images)
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OTTAWA, July 29, 2014 (AFP) - Canada accused China on Tuesday of hacking into the computers of its research and development arm, which partners with thousands of Canadians firms each year to roll out new technologies.
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"Recently, the government of Canada, through the work of the Communications Security Establishment, detected and confirmed a cyber intrusion on the IT infrastructure of the National Research Council of Canada by a highly sophisticated Chinese state-sponsored actor," said a government statement.
The NRC's computers, Ottawa went on to say, have been isolated from the broader Canadian government network "as a precautionary measure."
New security infrastructure is also being built to try to prevent future breaches, but that could take up to a year to complete, it added.
Areas of NRC scientific expertise include aerospace, astrophysics, energy and mining, health and medicine, ocean vessel engineering, and security and disruptive technologies.
China cyberespionage has become a growing concern for many governments and companies, following several reports of breaches in recent years.
Hackers using servers traced to China previously penetrated computer systems at Canada's Finance Department and Treasury Board.
China has always denied any hacking involvement.
A 19-year-old Canadian man was also arrested in April for allegedly stealing 900 Canadian taxpayers' data, which was made vulnerable by the "Heartbleed" bug.
