China has been blamed for a massive cyber attack on one of Australia's weather computers, according to reports.
Australia's state broadcaster the ABC says multiple official sources have confirmed that the Bureau of Meteorology has been compromised in an attack.
It said that it will cost millions of dollars to fix the security breach, adding that other state agencies have also been affected.
The bureau has one of Australia' biggest supercomputers, and its systems are linked to the Department of Defence offices in Canberra.
Cyber attacks on government agencies are a regular occurrence, but the ABC claims that this one is "massive" - with an official claiming China was the culprit.
An inability for Australia to accurately predict the weather could affect the operation of military and commercial aircraft.
The bureau's intellectual property and scientific research would also be of interest to a foreign power.
A spokesman for Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said: "The Government's aware of a press report that the Bureau has been the subject of a cyber attack.
"The Government takes any cyber attacks seriously and is currently reviewing its cyber security policy."
The bureau has not denied the attack, but says all of its systems are currently in working order.
A spokesman said: "Like all government agencies, we work closely with the Australian Government security agencies.
"The bureau's systems are fully operational and the bureau continues to provide reliable, ongoing access to high quality weather, climate, water and oceans information to its stakeholders."
The US has previously said that Chinese cyber attacks put "enormous strain" on its relationship.
But china denies supporting cyber espionage.
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