the office of the Dalai Lama had been hacked . His staff sent a foreign diplomat an e-mail invitation to meet the Tibetan spiritual leader , but before the Dalai Lama 's people could follow up with a phone call , `` the diplomat 's office was contacted by the Chinese government and warned not to go ahead with the meeting , '' according to the Cambridge report . Watch CNN 's John Vause report on the network '' An investigation resulted in both reports . Both found links to computers in China , but the researchers did not conclude who they thought was behind the `` malware , '' or malicious software . `` Chinese cyber espionage is a major global concern ... -LSB- b -RSB- ut attributing all Chinese malware to deliberate or targeted intelligence gathering operations by the Chinese state is wrong and misleading , '' according to the Canadian report titled , `` Tracking GhostNet : Investigating a Cyber Espionage Network . '' `` The sheer number of young digital natives online can more than account for the increase in Chinese malware , '' it adds . But the report also points out that China is
LONDON , England -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Nearly 1,300 computers in more than 100 countries have been attacked and have become part of a computer espionage network apparently based in China , security experts alleged in two reports Sunday . The network was discovered after computers at the Dalai Lama 's office were hacked , researchers say . Computers -- including machines at NATO , governments and embassies -- are infected with software that lets attackers gain complete control of them , according to the reports . One was issued by the University of Toronto 's Munk Centre for International Studies in conjunction with the Ottawa , Canada-based think tank The SecDev Group ; the second came from the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory . Researchers have dubbed the network GhostNet . The network can not only search a computer but see and hear the people using it , according to the Canadian report . `` GhostNet is capable of taking full control of infected computers , including searching and downloading specific files , and covertly operating attached devices , including microphones and web cameras , '' the report says . The discovery of GhostNet grew out of suspicions that