Wow...what a spy network...

How can the Chinese government not be behind such a vast network...

Canadian researchers have uncovered a computer spying operation that they say has stolen documents from hundreds of government and private offices around the world.

The New York Times website reported Saturday that the researchers, based at the Munk Centre for International Studies at the University of Toronto, said the system was being controlled from computers based almost exclusively in China.

But they could not say conclusively the Chinese government was involved.

A spokesman for the Chinese Consulate in New York dismissed the idea that China was involved, while the Chinese Embassy in Toronto did not immediately return calls for comment.

The researchers had been asked by the office of the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan leader whom China regularly denounces, to examine its computers for signs of malicious software, or malware.

“We uncovered real-time evidence of malware that had penetrated Tibetan computer systems, extracting sensitive documents from the private office of the Dalai Lama,” investigator Greg Walton said.

They discovered a broader operation that, in less than two years, has infiltrated at least 1,295 computers in 103 countries, including many belonging to embassies, foreign ministries and other government offices.

The researchers said they believe in addition to the spying on the Dalai Lama, the system, which they called GhostNet, was focused on the governments of South Asian and Southeast Asian countries.