Spokesman Geng Yansheng. Photo: china.org.cn

A spokesman for China's Ministry of National Defense, characterized the charges Wednesday as "groundless both in facts and legal basis." The forceful denial came a day after Virginia-based cybersecurity firm Mandiant released a 74-page report detailing the activities of a hacking collective it claims has direct ties to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Mandiant said it has watched the group systematically steal hundreds of terabytes of data from at least 140 organizations across 20 industries worldwide over the last 7 years. On an announcement on the website www.mod.gov.cn, Spokesman Geng Yansheng said Chinese law strictly forbids internet violations and the Chinese government always punishes hackers. The report relies too heavily on the tracking of IP addresses, and "There is still no internationally clear, unified definition of what constitutes a hacking attack." Geng said the report, in only relying on linking IP addresses to reach a conclusion that the hacking attacks originated from China, lacks technical proof.