US, China Exchange Accuses of Cyber Warfare

US security experts claim a 12-story office building outside of Shanghai is the headquarters of a hacking unit in China established to attack international computer networks. Beijing has rejected the allegations, calling the reports “unreliable”.

According to a report published Tuesday morning by a Northern Virginia-based information security company, an elusive squadron of Chinese cyberwarriors operating under the name Unit 61398 has engaged in countless battles with governments and entities around the globe for years under the umbrella of the People’s Liberation Army.

The group is accused of infiltrating the computers of some of the biggest businesses and agencies in the US, both public and private alike, and is assumed to still be at large.

The report said that security experts are all but certain that the cyber attacks have originated out of an inconspicuous white office building on the outskirts of Shanghai that has been provided with a special fiber optic communications infrastructure from Chinese telecom providers in the name of national defense — but China maintains the claim that they have not engaged in any illegal hacks.

China’s Defense Ministry on Wednesday issued a statement arguing the report’s accusations are scientifically flawed and not reliable.

“The report, in only relying on linking IP address to reach a conclusion the hacking attacks originated from China, lacks technical proof,” the statement said. “Everyone knows that the use of usurped IP addresses to carry out hacking attacks happens on an almost daily basis.”

The ministry also suggested that gathering information is not “online spying”.

Speaking to the Times, officials at the Chinese embassy in Washington have also dismissed the allegations while noting the epidemic of international hacks originating in the US. “They describe China itself as a victim of computer hacking, and point out, accurately, that there are many hacking groups inside the United States,” the Times’ report reads.