Pentagon takes email accounts offline after hack attack

US department says little damage has been done

Pentagon officials have taken 1,500 email accounts offline

The Pentagon has taken 1,500 email accounts offline after a hacker penetrated its systems.

A spokesman for the US department says the system is likely to be online again very soon and little damage has been done.

'Elements of the unclassified email system were taken offline yesterday afternoon due to a detected penetration,' said US Defence Secretary Robert Gates.

State officials also denied that the affected emails contained any classified information relating to military operations.

The Pentagon is an obvious target for hackers according to Gates, and it sees hundreds of attacks a day from recreational hackers, self-styled cyber-vigilantes, various groups with nationalistic and ideological agendas, trans-national actors and nation-states.

Officials would not say whether the hacker was able to read emails sent on the system.

Dr Phyllis Schneck, chairman of the board of directors of InfraGard, the US national infrastructure protection programme, says that these type of attacks will become increasingly prominent.

'What we are seeing is a proof of concept that cyber warfare is to become a reality. As well as being used by hackers and terrorists, these type of attacks will be used increasingly in international warfare,' she said.