The Pentagon for the first time is officially accusing the Chinese government and military with conducting computer-based attacks against the U.S., including efforts to steal information from federal agencies.

In a new report, the Defense Department goes a small step further than it has gone previously. It has said before that cyberattacks originated in China and that Beijing may be using civilian experts in clandestine computer operations against American companies. But over the past year some U.S. government officials and private cybersecurity experts have stepped up accusations that the Chinese government appears to be directly involved in those cyberattacks.

In February, U.S.-based cybersecurity firm, Mandiant, issued a report accusing a secret Chinese military unit in Shanghai of years of cyberattacks against more than 140 companies, most of them American.

(AP)