News Summary: Professional Chinese hackers

9-TO-5: Internet experts say the persistence of Chinese hacking attacks point to the employ of professional cyberspies. Hacker teams regularly began work, for the most part, at 8 a.m. Beijing time. And Chinese hackers take the weekend off.

THE BACKGROUND: Accusations of state-sanctioned hacking took center stage this past week following a detailed report by a U.S.-based Internet security firm Mandiant. That fueled growing suspicion that the Chinese military is stealing national defense secrets, harassing dissidents and pilfering information from foreign companies that could be worth millions of dollars

DENIAL: Beijing hotly denies such accusations of official involvement in massive cyberattacks against foreign targets.