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Cyber attack causes concern in the US

Internet security concerns have been raised in the US following a malware attack on Defence Department computers believed to have originated from Russia, reports say.

Military networks including those in the US Central Command were subjected to attacks, which prompted senior military officials to take the "exceptional" step to inform President Bush, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Cyber crooks routinely target military networks with viruses and other online threats but an official admitted to the newspaper that this particular attack was more intense.

"There are lots of people working hard to remove the threat and put in preventive measures to protect the grid," said the official. "We have taken a number of corrective measures, but I would be overstating it if I said we were through this."

The malicious software, which has been targeting government computers "for months" was apparently specifically designed to target military networks this time, prompting the reaction.

Last week external computer flash drives were banned by the Pentagon to prevent the invasive software from spreading around.

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