(CNN) -- The Chinese government is sponsoring cyber-espionage to attack top U.S. companies, according to Grady Summers, vice president of security firm Mandiant.
Virginia-based Mandiant
published a 60-page report detailing allegations over a six-year period
against a group of hackers -- known as Comment Crew -- which Summers
linked to a secret division of the Chinese military.
Summers told CNN: "China
is attacking the U.S. on a scale like we've never seen before... We
believe that the Communist Party of China is very aware of this."
Mandiant says the
activity can be traced to four networks near Shanghai -- with some
operations taking place in a location that is also the headquarters of
Unit 61398, the secret military division.
Summers added: "Never
before have we seen one state-sponsored entity like unit 61398 of the
Chinese PLA attacking helpless commercial organizations in other
countries."
Read more: Chinese cyber attacks on West are widespread, experts say
The espionage group mainly targeted U.S. blue chip companies in 20 separate industries from aerospace to financial services.
"It's really a who's who of American companies. Of 140 victims worldwide, 115 of them were in the U.S.," Grady said.
Chinese foreign ministry
spokesman Hong Lei dismissed the hacking charges on Tuesday, insisting
that China is the victim of many cyberattacks -- most originating in the
United States.
"Making baseless
accusations based on premature analysis is irresponsible and
unprofessional," he said. "China resolutely opposes any form of hacking
activities."
Earlier this month, President Obama signed an executive order designed to address the country's most basic cybersecurity needs -- and highlighted the effort in his State of the Union address.
Summers says a cyber
offence by the U.S. is not an appropriate response to the attacks as "it
creates more problems than it solves."
Instead, he advocates
better defense systems in organizations that are vulnerable to cyber
attacks and diplomatic pressure from Washington on Beijing.
The Mandiant report
details 3,000 technical indicators including IP addresses, domain names
and encryption certificates, that can be used to strengthen companies'
defenses.
