DHAKA: Penn State University, which develops sensitive technology for the US Navy, disclosed Friday that Chinese hackers have been sifting through the computers of its engineering school for more than two years, reports Bloomberg.

The hackers are so deeply embedded that the engineering college’s computer network has been taken offline for several days while investigators work to eject the intruders.

The breach suggests that foreign spies could be using universities as a backdoor to US commercial and defense secrets.

“This was an advanced attack against our College of Engineering by very sophisticated threat actors,” said Penn State President Eric Barron in a letter to professors and students.

“This is an incredibly serious situation, and we are devoting all necessary resources to help the college recover as quickly as possible.”

One of the US’ largest and most productive research universities, Penn State offers a potential treasure trove of technology that’s already being developed with partners for commercial applications.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation notified the university of the breach in November 2014, spawning a months-long investigation that eventually found two separate groups of hackers stealing data.

BDST: 1222 HRS, MAY 17, 2015
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