Although it may sound like it but this isn't a Hollywood movie synopsis I am writing. There is a group of 20 something Chinese hard-core hackers who claim to have gained access to the world's most sensitive sites, including the Pentagon. They say they are sometimes paid secretly by the Chinese government -- a claim the Beijing government denies. One hacker says he is a former computer operator in the People's Liberation Army; another is a marketing graduate; and Xiao Chen says he is a self-taught programmer. Xiao Chen" is his online name. Along with his two colleagues, he does not want to reveal his true identity. The three belong to what some Western experts say is a civilian cyber militia in China, launching attacks on government and private Web sites around the world. Like all good hackers they share their knowledge on their own website/forum, which has over 10,000 registered users. Private computer experts in the United States from iDefense Security Intelligence, which provides cyber security advice to governments and Fortune 500 companies, say the group's site "appears to be an important site in the broader Chinese hacking community." You may want to meet them on the island of Zhoushan, just south of Shanghai and a major port for China's navy. The apartment has cement floors and almost no furniture. What they do have are three of the latest computers. They are cautious when it comes to naming the Web sites they have hacked. This week, the Pentagon said computer networks in the United States, Germany, Britain and France were hit last year by what they call "multiple intrusions," many of them originating from China. U.S. officials have been cautious not to directly accuse the Chinese military or its government of hacking into its network.

One of the biggest problems experts say is trying to prove where a cyber attack originates from, and that they say allows hackers like Xiao Chen to operate in a virtual world of deniability. And across China, there could be thousands just like him; all trying to prove themselves against some of the most secure Web sites in the world.

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