China dismissed claims made by American security company CrowdStrike that the hacker group Deep Panda is linked to some officials of the Chinese government.

Geng Shuang, the press counselor for the Chinese embassy in Washington, responded to questions saying China prohibits all forms of cyber crimes. He said CrowdStrike's claims were just part of a publicity stunt.

Like Us on Facebook

A very sophisticated group of hackers believed to have links to the Chinese government had targeted Asian geopolitical experts in the U.S. for several years, CrowdStrike said on Monday. However, the group suddenly began hacking computers of Iraq experts amid the increasing rebellion there.

CrowdStrike also said it was very confident about Deep Panda's links to the Chinese government, but refused to give more details on that. The firm employs some former government officials of the U.S.

The security firm said via a blog post and some interviews that Deep Panda previously focused on think-tank specialists on political issues in Asia. But last month, the group suddenly started lifting files from computers of Iraqi experts after a group of Islamist militants attacked a refinery.

China has long been interested in the oil production industry of Iraq.

Geng responded to the report by saying the blog post appeared to be a promotional campaign for the security firm which has been giving alerts about cyber threats for a while. He added that this tactic might have given the firm's business a boost.

Dmitri Alperovitch, co-founder of CrowdStrike, said Chinese officials decided to neither confirm nor deny the hacking allegations, including those that resulted in indictment by the Justice Department.

Alperovitch also said China is now practicing the "art of denial" when allegations are thrown its way. He said China has reached the point where "no level of proof" is enough to make it admit any wrongdoing.

Tagscyberhacking, Deep Panda, Crowdstrike, China hacking, US hacking