Canada probes computer 'spying'

Police in Canada say they're investigating whether foreign spies used rigged computer software to infiltrate the country's secret service.

A spokesman for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Ottawa told the BBC an investigation was under way, but there was no evidence that national security had been compromised.

On Friday, a Canadian newspaper, the Toronto Star, said Israeli and United States spies had gained access to classified information kept by the Canadian intelligence service using a computer program called Promis.

Allegations that the software was deliberately changed in order to allow the Americans and the Israelis undetected access were never proven.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service