Intel also hit by sophisticated attack

Chip giant Intel says it was also hit by a high-level attack on its servers at the same time as Google.

Intel reported the attacks in its latest 10-K filing to the US SEC, saying it had been the target of a “sophisticated incident [that] occurred in January 2010 around the same time as the recently publicized security incident reported by Google.”

However, there was no evidence to tie its hack to the attack on Google and others, Wired.com reported.

“We did not see the kind of broad-based attack as described by Google,” Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy said. “Companies routinely see hackers trying to get into their system. It is a risk factor and that’s why it was in the 10-K. We’ve seen no loss of [intellectual property] as a result of any of these attacks.”

The SEC filing did not say whether the attacks had been successful or whether any information had been taken.

Some 34 companies are said to have been targeted in the recent attacks, which US investigators have reportedly sourced to computers at the Shanghai Jiaotong University and the Lanxiang Vocational College in Shandong, China.

In its first response to the reports, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman yesterday described them as “groundless”, Reuters said.

Separately, Google says it has resumed talks with Chinese officials about its future in the market.