In their Tuesday-released report, titled “Shadows in the Cloud, US and Canadian researchers at the University of Toronto brought to light the fact that ‘sensitive’ documents – especially those pertaining to missile systems, military forces’ movements, and relations among countries – are being pilfered by a spy network that is targeting government networks in India and other countries.

The report, which involved the Information Warfare Monitor and Shadowserver Foundation groups, comes after the researchers’ eight-month-long monitoring of the hacking of the “Shadow” spy network, and finally tracing it to China-based computer servers as well as to individuals in the central China city Chengdu.

The report provided details of the extensive pilfering of Indian national security information by Chinese hackers – the hackers stole 1,500 e-mails from the Dalai Lama’s office; and 700 Indian government documents marked ‘restricted’, ‘secret’ or ‘top secret.’

Noting that governments the world over are competing to militarize cyberspace, thereby creating a perfect scenario for crime and espionage, the report elaborated that the documents pilfered through the Shadow Network also included sensitive and confidential embassy documents related to India’s relationships with Russia, and West African and Middle East countries.

Furthermore, the documents of “secret assessments of India’s security situation in the states of Assam, Manipur, Nagaland and Tripura, as well as concerning the Naxalites and Maoists,” were also pilfered by the hackers.