Washington, May 8 (EFE).– The United States asked China on Friday to investigate the alleged cyber attacks on companies and other interests in the U.S. using a new tool called “The Great Cannon.”

“We are concerned by reports that China has used a new cyber capability to interfere with the ability of worldwide Internet users to access content hosted outside of China,” U.S. State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke said during his daily press conference.

“The cyber attack manipulated international Web traffic intended for one of China’s biggest Web services companies and turned it into malicious traffic directed at U.S. sites,” he said.

The spokesman was answering a question about the suspected use of “The Great Cannon” tool, which can be used to spy on Web users who visit Chinese sites or simply Web pages with content hosted in China.

“We have asked Chinese authorities to investigate this activity and provide us with the results of their investigation. At the same time, we’re working with all willing partners to enhance cyber security, promote norms of acceptable state behavior in cyber space, and to protect the principle of freedom of expression online,” Rathke said.

“And we view attacks by malicious cyber actors who target critical infrastructure or U.S. companies and U.S. consumers as threats to national security and to the economy of the United States,” he said.

According to U.S. media, China blamed IT pirates for the latest cyber attacks against Web pages on Facebook accounts and against the project-hosting platform GitHub. EFE