According to security experts, government officials in over 20 European countries have been targeted by cyber criminals in by far the most sophisticated online attacks - dubbed `MiniDuke' - since the turn of the millennium.

The disclosure about the `MiniDuke' attack - marking the latest in a series of cyber attacks hitting governments and other high-profile institutions - comes close on the heels of reports that Chinese hackers have seemingly been attacking western defence and media organisations.

Going by the revelations from the security experts, government computers have been infected by the `MiniDuke' attack - discovered by cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab - as recently as this week, apparently with the objective of stealing geopolitical intelligence.

Despite the fact that security researchers are still not very clear about the people or organization behind the `MiniDuke' online assault, Kaspersky Lab - noting that the attack had the potential to be "extremely dangerous" - has revealed that the attackers probably had servers based in Panama and Turkey.

With the governments targeted by the `MiniDuke' attack including those of Ireland, Romania, Belgium, Portugal, and the Czech Republic, Kaspersky Lab's chief malware expert Vitali Kamluk said: "It's currently unclear what the attackers were after. But the interest in these high-profile victims is quite obvious."