Chinese hackers have attacked the UK’s leading engineering company Rolls-Royce and the Anglo-Dutch oil giant Royal Dutch Shell, according to a report in The Times newspaper.

The news comes in the wake of a warning by the recent annual Virtual Criminology Report that the UK could be the target of internet spying by China and other countries.

An unnamed security source said the Rolls-Royce’s computer network was infected with a Trojan virus. At Shell, sources said the hackers targeted Chinese nationals working in the company’s Houston office to get information on its oil pricing at its African operations.

Jonathan Evans, director-general of the UK’s security service, MI5, recently sent a letter to various banking and accounting firms warning them that they could be at risk of an attack sponsored by “Chinese state organizations”.