14 DAY TRIAL // China’s newly installed Prime Minister, Li Keqiang, is the latest and the highest-ranked official so far to deny the accusations according to which the country's military is conducting sophisticated cyberattacks against the US.
Li has once again reiterated that the accusations are groundless and they can only damage US-China relations, The Guardian informs.
“I think we should not make groundless accusations against each other, and spend more time doing practical things that will contribute to cyber-security,” he said.
The New York Times reports that when US President Barack Obama called the new Chinese President, Xi Jinping, to congratulate him, he brought up cyberattacks and the theft of intellectual property.
While President Obama has often highlighted the risks posed by massive cyber espionage campaigns, he has never directly appointed China as being the culprit.
In fact, the only member of the administration to single out China is the US National Security Advisor Thomas E. Donilon, who urged China last week to take steps to investigate the attacks.
The latest series of accusations against China started earlier this year when several major media organizations, including The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal reported being hit by cyberattacks apparently originating from China.
The situation became even more tense after security firm Mandiant released a study on the campaigns launched by the Chinese military against organizations from all over the world.
Chinese officials have denied the accusations on numerous occasions. In addition, in their more recent statements, they have even gone as far as to turn the accusations against the US.
According to a report released last week by China’s Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT), most cyberattacks against the country originate from US IP address ranges.
On the other hand, in its latest threat report, security solutions provider Solutionary has revealed that most of the cyberattacks launched against US systems come from IP addresses based in the United States, not foreign countries.