Chinese military authorities said on February 20 that the country's armed forces had never backed any hacking activities, denouncing the U.S. cybersecurity firm Mandiant's report as groundless both in facts and on a legal basis.

Chinese law forbids any activities disrupting Internet security and the Chinese Government sternly punishes all cybercrimes, said Geng Yansheng, a spokesman for the Ministry of National Defense, at a briefing.

Mandiant on February 18 released a report, alleging that a secret Chinese military unit in Shanghai was behind years of cyberattacks against U.S. companies.

Geng said that Mandiant's report was groundless in fact because the report came into the conclusion that the source of attack came from China only with the discovery that attacks were linked to IP addresses based in China.