Google attack 'came from China schools'

CYBERATTACKS aimed at Google and dozens of other firms have been traced to computers at two Chinese schools, one with ties to the military, The New York Times says.

Citing unidentified anonymous sources, the newspaper on Thursday said trails led to Shanghai Jiaotong University and the Lanxiang Vocational School, which was created with military backing and trains some of its computer scientists.

Google vowed a month ago to stop bowing to internet censors in China in the wake of sophisticated cyberattacks aimed at the US firm's source code and Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists around the world.

Google continues to filter searches as per Chinese law while trying to negotiate a compromise with Chinese officials.

When it went public with news of the attacks in January, Google said it detected the cyber assaults in December.

Unnamed sources quoted by the Times said cyber espionage aimed at stealing trade secrets, computer codes and communications of Chinese human rights activist may have started as early as April.

Google has been working with US intelligence agencies to investigate the attacks, which were described as bearing the marks of high-level espionage.