In a statement, White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said the administration is aware of the Mandiant report, and is acting to negate these threats.

"The United States has substantial and growing concerns about the threats to U.S. economic and national security posed by cyber intrusions," Vietor said. "We have repeatedly raised our concerns at the highest levels about cyber theft with senior Chinese officials, including in the military, and we will continue to do so."

Earlier this month, President Obama signed an executive order designed to address the country's most basic cybersecurity needs -- and highlighted the effort in his State of the Union address.

The order will make it easier for private companies in control of the nation's critical infrastructure to share information about cyberattacks with the government. The order also directs the government to work with the private sector on standards that will help protect companies from cybercrime.

In recent weeks, The New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal have disclosed that their computer networks had been targeted by hackers in China.

The New York Times, which hired Mandiant to help mitigate the threat, reported Tuesday that the comment crew was not the source of the attack on its network.

China is not the only country believed to be involved in cyberattacks. The existence of several other state-sponsored cyberweapons have also been reported in recent years, with names like Stuxnet, Duqu and Flame. The U.S. government is widely believed to have played a role in developing some of those viruses, with an eye toward containing Iran.