Washington, June 3: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said that the Obama administration is looking into Google's allegations that China-based hackers tried to break into hundreds of Google mail accounts, including those of senior US government officials.

"These allegations are very serious. We take them seriously. We're looking into them," CBS News quoted Clinton, as saying.

Google had said that the hackers' "goal" was to eavesdrop on the officials "to monitor the content of the users' emails".

The company said that the hackers used a massive phishing scheme to break into accounts and were able to monitor victims' emails and alter forwarding settings.

The accounts were hijacked using stolen passwords that were obtained using malware on victims' computers and by victims responding to emails from hackers.

The security breach was revealed as the Pentagon warned that the US might retaliate with military force against countries that sabotage its computers.

Google said that the latest attack was believed to have been executed from the city of Jinan.

China, however, claims that the hacking is not state-sponsored, said the allegations are "completely unfounded and made with ulterior motives." (ANI)