Hackers from possibly the Chinese armed forces reportedly took control of American satellites in 2007 and 2008, according to a US parliamentary committee. They reportedly succeeded to do it four times via a satellite control base in Spitsbergen, Norway. But the Norwegians don’t understand the report.

“We have told the committee when asked that there is no evidence to the allegations, after a thorough check of our systems,” a spokesman for base operator Kongsberg Satellite Services said on Friday. “We have also heard nothing from the NASA, which owns the satellites.”

The claims of the cyber attacks by the US Congress’ Economic and Security Committee on Relations with China (US-China Economic and Security Review Commission) were leaked yesterday through the US news agency Bloomberg. The official annual statement will not be released until next month and is based on reports from the US Air Force. | © 2011 Marcel Burger for ANP News Agency (original in Dutch, 28 October 2011, previously unpublished)