Chinese hackers broke into the computer network of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) recently prompting the government to think about fortifying the system.

No sensitive information is believed to have been accessed during the hacking, which was detected during regular checks by the intelligence agencies, official sources said on Friday.

Though the government does not have any specific idea about who the hackers were, the IP addresses left behind suggested the hand of Chinese.

The sources sought to play down the development, saying it was an ongoing effort by hackers from China, Europe or countries elsewhere to break into the computer networks of MEA.

The government will have to improve the defences and fortify the system to defeat such attempts, they said.

source