China accused the U.S. of launching a massive cyberattack primarily targeting a Chinese university.
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"China has lodged strong opposition to the US over its intelligence agency, the National Security Agency (NSA), for launching a cyberattack on the email system belonging to a leading Chinese university," said Mao Ning, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson.
Beijing has demanded an explanation from Washington, said Mao, who appeared first time to address the daily briefing by the ministry.
In a joint report by National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center (CVERC) and the cybersecurity firm 360 Company, Beijing said the email system of Northwestern Polytechnical University was hacked by the U.S.National Security Agency (NSA).
Identifying Robert Edward Joyce as the NSA official in charge of the cyber activities, known as Tailored Access Operations (TAO), it said he was "in direct command" of the situation concerning the university.
Northwestern Polytechnical University is known for its faculty's research in aviation, aerospace and navigation.
The alleged cyberattack was reported by the university on June 22, when it said it had uncovered hackers "from abroad caught sending phishing emails with Trojan horse programs to teachers and students at the university, attempting to steal their data and personal information," said the report.
"This investigation found that in recent years. TAO has carried out tens of thousands of malicious network attacks on network targets in China, and controlled tens of thousands of network devices (network servers, Internet terminals, network switches, telephone switches, routers, firewalls, etc.), stealing over 140GB of high-value data," it claimed.
"As the most powerful country in cyber technology and capability, the U.S. must immediately stop abusing its tech strength for cyber theft and attacks," said Mao. ■
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