As the US battles with hackers from Anonymous and Lulzsec it appears two US government-funded research laboratories and a defence contractor were attacked by someone a little more serious.

In what are being called “highly sophisticated” attacks, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington; Thomas Jefferson National Laboratory in Newport News, Virginia and Battelle Corp, a government contractor were hit. The three shut down Internet access when they became aware of the attacks, they said. The two laboratories have yet to restore access to their external websites.

At the moment it appears that no classified information has been compromised or is in danger from this attack. A PNNL spokesman announced that there was no indication of 'exfiltration' of information from unclassified networks. The attack follows cyber assaults at Lockheed Martin and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which is managed by UT-Battelle for the US Energy Department.