Originally posted by the Voice of America. Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America, a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in the public domain. Chinese Army Rejects US Report on Cyber Hacking by VOA News China's Defense Ministry is rejecting a report by a U.S.-based Internet security group that accused Beijing's army of carrying out a "sustained" campaign of cyber attacks on American targets. A defense ministry statement Wednesday said the Chinese army has never supported cyber attacks. It said the Tuesday report by Mandiant "is not based on facts" and "lacks technical proof." Mandiant says its investigation revealed that a secretive unit of the People's Liberation Army was behind a group that carried out nearly 150 attacks on a wide range of mostly U.S. targets since 2006. The White House would not directly comment on the report, but promised that it is taking all necessary steps to protect U.S. networks from cyber crimes and said it has raised the issue with Chinese leaders. The Chinese government had already denied it was behind the attacks. On Tuesday, the foreign ministry said Beijing was the victim, not perpetrator, of computer hacking, saying such activity is against Chinese law. The Defense Ministry repeated that insistence on Wednesday, saying its own data suggested that a "considerable" number of hacking attempts against it originate from the United States. It also questioned Mandiant's methodology of using IP addresses, or computer identification codes, to trace dozens of the China-based attacks to a neighborhood surrounding a PLA building in Shanghai. It said the codes could be re-routed to appear as if they came from a different location. China has long been considered the source of many of the world's cyber attacks. Many suspect that China's government and military are involved in cyber espionage and information theft. But since specific attacks are difficult to pinpoint, most experts and foreign governments have refrained from making direct accusations against Beijing. The U.S. and China consistently raise the issue and pledge cooperation on cyber security at regular dialogue sessions. But the problem has continued to grow worse, with several high-profile U.S. media outlets, including the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, recently accusing China-based hackers of compromising their networks. __________________________________________________________________ [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/chinese-army-rejects-us-report-on-cyb er-hacking/1607033.html References 1. http://www.voanews.com/content/chinese-army-rejects-us-report-on-cyber-hacking/1607033.html