China’s Ministry of Defense denies role in hacking, claims of similar attacks from US

Following yesterday’s explosive New York Times report implicating the Chinese military in a string of international cyber attacks, the country is once again denying it had any involvement, calling security company Mandiant’s investigation “scientifically flawed.” Reuters reports that a response on the country’s Ministry of Defense website directly refutes Mandiant’s claims, saying that, “the report, in only relying on linking IP address to reach a conclusion the hacking attacks originated from China, lacks technical proof.”

The country has consistently denied any official involvement in the attacks, but the newest response takes a more relativistic stance, saying that the US is also engaged in its fair share of hacking attacks against China, “but we don’t use this as a reason to criticize the United States.” It also questions where to draw the line between “hacking” and “everyday gathering of online (information),” although presumably months of spear phishing attacks, password cracking, and installing malware on the other party’s systems would fall under the former.