The Chinese government claimed on Monday that the U.S. attempted to hack a Chinese military-linked university more than 1,000 times. They claimed a new investigation had found evidence of the U.S. intrusion but did not release the report.
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On Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said a joint investigation by China’s National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center (CVERC) and Qihoo 360 Technology cybersecurity company determined that the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) was behind more than 1,000 cyber theft operations. Mao said these alleged U.S. hacking efforts targeted China’s Northwestern Polytechnical University (NWPU), which is affiliated with the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
“Based on the analysis and tracing done by the joint team of CVERC and 360, the NSA’s cyber attacks and data theft against China are supported by a clear and complete chain of evidence, which involves 13 personnel in the U.S. who directly launched cyber attacks against China, and more than 60 contracts and more than 170 digital documents with US telecom operators to build an environment for cyber attacks,” Mao said. “The reports showed that the U.S. used 41 specialized cyber weapons to launch cyber theft operations for over 1,000 times against Northwestern Polytechnical University and stole core technical data.”
Though Ning cited the joint report by the CVERC and Qihoo 360 she did not provide a link to the published report. CVERC and Qihoo 360 also did not make a copy of their report publicly available on their respective websites.
“The U.S. has also long carried out indiscriminate audio surveillance against Chinese cell-phone users, illegally stole text messages from them and conducted wireless positioning of them,” Mao added.
“The U.S.’s behavior poses a serious danger to China’s national security and citizens’ personal information security,” Mao continued. “China strongly condemns this and asks the U.S. side to offer an explanation and immediately stop its unlawful moves.”
She also said that as the country with “most powerful cyber technologies and capabilities,” the U.S. “should immediately stop using its prowess as an advantage to conduct theft and attacks against other countries, responsibly participate in global cyber space governance and play a constructive role in defending cyber security.”
Neither the U.S. Embassy in Beijing or U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns have responded to China’s hacking allegation.
Despite accusing the U.S. of hacking, China faces its own extensive list of hacking allegations.
In February, Chinese hackers were suspected of cyber attacks on the Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones, the New York Post and News Corp’s main headquarters in New York and the United Kingdom.
In March, Chinese hackers were again alleged to have infiltrated the computer networks of six U.S. state governments.
In February, FBI Director Christopher Wray said the cybersecurity threat posed by China has “reached a new level — more brazen, more damaging, than ever before, and it’s vital — vital — that all of us focus on that threat together.”
