SEATTLE (Reuters) - Software giant Microsoft Corp. said on Thursday that hackers had broken into some of the company's computer systems in what a spokesman called ``a deplorable act of industrial espionage.''

The spokesman declined to comment on which specific areas of the computer network were breached, what the specific goals of the hackers were, or their possible motives. It reported the break-in to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, the spokesman said.

``We recently became aware of attacks to our corporate network,'' Microsoft spokesman Rick Miller told Reuters. ''Microsoft is moving aggressively to isolate the problem and to secure our corporate network. We are confident that the integrity of our source code remains secure.''

He said the company was working with law enforcement ``to protect our intellectual property.''

The FBI was not immediately available to comment.

The company had became aware of the attacks ``in the last couple of days.'' Asked if the attacks had stopped, Miller said,



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