(Reuters) - Two major
Chinese military websites, including that of the Defense Ministry, were subject
to about 144,000 hacking attacks a month last year, almost two-thirds of which
came from the United States, the ministry said on Thursday.
This month a U.S.
computer security company said that a secretive Chinese military unit was
likely behind a series of hacking attacks mostly targeting the United States,
setting off a war of words between Washington and Beijing.
China denied the
allegations and said it was the victim.
It has now provided some
details for the first time of the alleged attacks from the United States.
"The Defense
Ministry and China Military Online websites have faced a serious threat from
hacking attacks since they were established, and the number of hacks has risen
steadily in recent years," said ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng.
"According to the
IP addresses, the Defense Ministry and China Military Online websites were, in
2012, hacked on average from overseas 144,000 times a month, of which attacks from
the U.S. accounted for 62.9 percent," he said.
The comments were made
at a monthly news conference, which foreign reporters are not allowed to
attend, and posted on the ministry's website.
Geng said he had noted
reports that the United States planned to expand its cyber-warfare capability
but that they were unhelpful to increasing international cooperation towards
fighting hacking.
"We hope that the
U.S. side can explain and clarify this."
The U.S. security
company, Mandiant, identified the People's Liberation Army's Shanghai-based
Unit 61398 as the most likely driving force behind the hacking. Mandiant said
it believed the unit had carried out "sustained" attacks on a wide
range of industries.
The hacking dispute adds
to diplomatic tension between China and the United States, already strained by
Chinese suspicion about Washington's "pivot" back to Asia and
arguments over issues from trade to human rights.
(Reporting by Ben
Blanchard; Editing by Robert Birsel)
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