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The White House revealed today that cyber attackers linked to the Chinese government attempted to hack into a computer system in the White House Military Office. While the official statement down played the attack, saying that it was aiming for an unclassified 'isolated' network, one report claimed that the hackers targeted the White House Military Office which safeguards sensitive data like the nuclear launch codes. 'This was a spear phishing attack against an unclassified network. These types of attacks are not infrequent and we have mitigation measures in place,' a White House official told MailOnline. 'In this instance the attack was identified, the system was isolated, and there is no indication whatsoever that any exfiltration of data took place. Moreover, there was never any impact or attempted breach of any classified system.'A conservative newspaper that has been regularly critical of the Obama administration, called The Washington Free Beacon, first published the report on Sunday and said that the attackers were linked to the Chinese government. They wrote that the attack, which allegedly occurred earlier in September, was yet another example of the 'failure of the Obama administration to press China on its persistent cyber attacks'.In response to the article, an unnamed White House official contacted Politico to clarify the story, saying that while the 'attempted' hack did take place, it did not cause any damage because the targeted system did not contain any sensitive data. The breach occurred using a 'spear phishing' tactic, in which a hacker sends an email to the target and hopes that the recipient clicks on the links or downloads the attachments used in the email.Once those steps are taken- and it is unclear whether they were in this case- the links or attachments enable the hacker to download their malicious software, also known as malware.Though the political slant of the Free Beacon reporting is clear, it is also true that this is not the first time that Chinese hackers have gotten unnervingly close to White House communications. The New York Times reported that in June 2011, Google and FBI officials confirmed that a wide-ranging phishing attack had taken place after the hackers had directed malware towards the personal Gmail accounts of an unknown number of White House staffers. The FBI never released the names, or even t he number of staffers who were thought to be targeted in the attack. In the latest hacking, however, the target was much more clear and focused solely on the White House Military Office. The Military Office is in charge of arranging the President's travel, coordinating inter-office conference calls between top government officials, and most notably the security of the so-called 'nuclear football', the nickname for the suitcase that contains and controls all of the nuclear launch codes. The Free Beacon, which Politico points out published a story about a Russian submarine trolling in North American waters which was flatly denied by numerous government agencies, says a breach in this office would be devastating to the country's security. 'This is the most sensitive office in the U.S. government,' an unidentified former U.S. intelligence official told the paper. 'A compromise there would cause grave strategic damage to the United States.' The threat of a damaging cyber attack has raised the alarm in the highest levels of government, as President Obama penned an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal last year pushing for more dedication to digital security. 'So far, no one has managed to seriously damage or disrupt our critical infrastructure networks. But foreign governments, criminal syndicates and lone individuals are probing our financial, energy and public safety systems every day,' he wrote.