China has been accused of conducting new cyber-attacks targeting U.S. firms. If this allegation is true, it violates the new cyber agreement barring both countries from knowingly engaging in cyber espionage to steal trade secrets and intellectual property.

CrowdStrike, a California based security firm, said this week that it had detected and documented seven Chinese cyber-attacks targeting American pharmaceutical and technological companies.

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The attacks were first detected on Sep. 26 - a day after President Barack Obama and President Xi Jinping announced a cyberspace agreement between the U.S. and China. The agreement stipulates that both nations will refrain from hacking state agencies and companies in either's territory with the intention of gaining information to secure competitive commercial advantage.

"CrowdStrike Falcon platform has detected and prevented a number of intrusions into our customers' systems from actors we have affiliated with the Chinese government," Dmitri Alperovitch, founder of the company, which hires former U.S. government cyber-security experts, said on Monday.

"Seven of the companies are firms in the technology or pharmaceuticals sectors, where the primary benefit of the intrusions seems clearly aligned to facilitate theft of intellectual property and trade secrets, rather than to conduct traditional national-security related intelligence collection which the cyber agreement does not prohibit."

Cyber-security and espionage has been a thorny issue between Washington and Beijing. America has accused China-backed hacking groups of several intrusions targeting U.S. companies. Despite the accusations, Beijing has maintained its innocence, saying China too suffers from relentless cyber-attacks.

The U.S. has threatened retaliation if China does not stop the attacks. Obama stressed that if it comes to a cyber-warfare, America would win. Washington has also threatened sanctions against companies and individuals conducting cyber- attacks against its interests.

Last month, after Obama and Xi reached an agreement on cyber-attacks, several high-ranking U.S. officials expressed skepticism about China's commitment to the agreement.

"There's a difference between an agreement on paper and having the Chinese government, including the People's Liberation Army, actually stop conducting and supporting cyber-attacks on US companies," Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), member of the Senate Intelligence Committee said.

The new report accusing Beijing of blatantly violating the cyber agreement with Washington should be treated with caution. Security experts and former U.S. intelligence officials say it may be too early to detect if China is breaching the agreement.

CrowdStrike's report did not elaborate on how the origin of the hacking attempts was discovered. However, the company linked the intrusions with Deep Panda, Chinese sponsored hacking group suspected of being behind the massive breach of data from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

CrowdStrike did not reveal the names of the five pharmaceutical and two technology companies targeted. But it said the cyber-attacks were unsuccessful - and no confidential corporate information was stolen.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest reiterated Obama stance on judging China based on the actions when he was asked about CrowdStrikes's report.

Earnest said cyber-security was a top priority of the U.S. government and as such intelligence agencies keenly monitor China's actions.

TagsChina-US Cyberattack Agreement, China cyberattacks US, China us cyberattacks, CrowdStrike China Cyberattacks US, Crowdstrike, Deep Panda