In April, Northwestern Polytechnical University said that it had been hacked. Following the university's statement, Xi'an Municipal Public Security Bureau and China’s National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center (CNCERT) created a task force to probe into the attack.
"Yang Tao, head of the Department of North American and Oceanian Affairs of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, made representation to the US Embassy on September 8 in connection with the US cyberattack on China's Northwestern Polytechnical University and the theft of confidential information," the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry also added that the US actions were a serious interference in the technological secrets of relevant Chinese institutions and harmed the security of key infrastructure, institutions as well as personal data.
On September 5, CNCERT released an investigative report stating that the US National Security Agency (NSA) has carried out more than 10,000 vicious cyberattacks on Chinese targets in recent years, took control of thousands of network devices and allegedly stole more than 140 gigabytes of valuable data.
Among other things, CNCERT also attributed April’s attack on the Northwestern Polytechnical University to the NSA.