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NOAA accuses China of hacking into US weather system: Report

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ANI Washington

A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) official has blamed the September hack attack that targeted American weather system on China, a report said.

Criticizing the Obama administration for not taking the Chinese cyber threat seriously, Rep. Frank Wolf said that if the hackers shut down the weather system during a storm or altered even one projection, it would have had impacted crop failure, safety with regards to shipping and could have jeopardized American citizens, reported CBS News.

The NOAA had said that four of its websites were hacked. Hackers who attacked the United States weather system in October impeded satellite feeds and several important websites.

 

In order to block the attackers, government was forced to shut down some of its service like, satellite data, National Ice Center website and others for more than a week in October stating a need for "unscheduled maintenance."

The hack attack on the weather system was just the latest in the series of attacks on the U.S. that have been blamed on China. The Chinese were also suspected of breaching the computer networks of the U.S. Postal Service, compromising the data of more than 800,000 employees.

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First Published: Nov 13 2014 | 2:01 PM IST

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