The Department of Defense has determined China to be its biggest threat in the cybersecurity domain, according to a newly declassified summary of a classified report, which was transmitted to Congress in May.

The unclassified version of the report is the baseline document for the department’s strategy for putting the priorities of the 2022 National Security Strategy, 2022 National Defense Strategy, and the 2023 National Cybersecurity Strategy into place.

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"This strategy draws on lessons learned from years of conducting cyber operations and our close observation of how cyber has been used in the Russia-Ukraine war," Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy John Plumb said. "It has driven home the need to work closely with our allies, partners, and industry to make sure we have the right cyber capabilities, cyber security, and cyber resilience to help deter conflict, and to fight and win if deterrence fails."

Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Cyber Policy Mieke Eoyang told reporters that the strategy identifies China as the department’s “pacing challenge in the cyber domain and recognizes the significant threat that Russia poses in cyberspace.“

The Chinese Communist Party has cybersecurity superiority as a “core” tenet of its “theories of victory,” the report found, and it added that it has “engaged in prolonged campaigns of espionage, theft, and compromise against key defense networks and broader U.S. critical infrastructure.”

"Importantly, the strategy emphasizes the Department will continue to collaborate with domestic partners across the federal government to share best practice and expertise," she added. "We will deepen our relationship with private industry through voluntary and timely information sharing. And closing as the cyber domain has grown, foreign adversaries have exploited to identify us vulnerabilities, commit espionage, steal intellectual property, violate US sovereignty, and recently to wage war."

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Earlier this summer, U.S. officials and Microsoft revealed that the State Department uncovered a Chinese hacking campaign that targeted U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and senior officials at the State Department. The hack began on May 15 and went undetected until June 16.

Microsoft said a Chinese hacking group was responsible for gaining access to email accounts affecting approximately 25 organizations, including government agencies, while State Department spokesman Matthew Miller would not confirm China's culpability at the time, though he noted the department did not have evidence to refute it either.