A Pentagon report has accused the Chinese government of cyber attacks against military and civilian computer systems in the US.
It marks the first time US authorities have directly suggested that Beijing is behind computer hacking, with the accusation coming as part of an annual Department of Defense report to Congress.
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"In 2012, numerous computer systems around the world, including those owned by the US government, continued to be targeted for intrusions, some of which appear to be attributable directly to the Chinese government and military," said the report.
"These intrusions were focused on exfiltrating information. China is using its computer network exploitation (CNE) capability to support intelligence collection against the US diplomatic, economic and defense industrial base sectors that support US national defense programs."
The Pentagon suggests that China is using the information to boost its own military and defence programmes. According to the report, China's development of cyber warfare capabilities is in line with strategy set out in publications by the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA).
"Developing cyber capabilities for warfare is consistent with authoritative PLA military writings. Two military doctrinal writings, 'Science of Strategy' and 'Science of Campaigns' identify information warfare (IW) as integral to achieving information superiority and an effective means for countering a stronger foe.
"Although neither document identifies the specific criteria for employing computer network attack against an adversary, both advocate developing capabilities to compete in this medium."
China has dismissed allegations that it facilitates cyber crime, calling them "groundless" and representing "US distrust".
The US Department of Defense's accusations come following a similar report from security firm Mandiant Corp, which earlier this year suggested the Chinese government sponsored computer hackers to steal data from the United States. China strenuously denied the claims.
News International CISO Amar Singh recently told Computing that every nation is engaging in some form of cyber attack.
"One thing I can definitely confirm is I speak to several anti-malware device CISOs, and all of them have a similar message where it's almost every nation doing it. Literally, almost every nation is engaging in some kind of exploratory or retaliatory attack," he said.
"Whichever way you look at it, there is hardly any nation of any size not either directly or indirectly sponsoring some kind of cyber warfare."
