China defense ministry accuses U.S. of hacking thousands of websites

The United States hacked two of China’s major military websites tens of thousands of times in a single month last year, a spokesman with the nation’s Defense Ministry said Thursday.

The claims come on the heels of a U.S. report that China has hacked into key American government agencies, media outlets and think tanks.

China is denying those charges — and turning the tables.

“The Defense Ministry and China Military Online websites have faced a serious threat from hacking attacks since they were established, and the number of hacks has risen steadily in recent years,” said ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng, according to Reuters. “According to the IP addresses, the [two websites] were in 2012 hacked on average from overseas 144,000 times a month, of which attacks from the U.S. accounted for 6.9 percent.”