The People's Liberation Army unit (PLA) allegedly responsible for cyberspying on Western targets has collaborated with a top Chinese university on networking and security research papers.

In a finding uncovered by Reuters, Shanghai Jiaotong's School of Information Security Engineering (SISE) and the People's Liberation Army Unit 61398 have worked in partnership on at least three papers in recent years. PLA Unit 61398 is well-known for its alleged links to cyberattacks on the West, after a report was released by security firm Mandiant which stated that an "overwhelming" number of cyberattacks originate from the single unit in Shanghai.

The co-authors of these papers, including research on attack detection and computer security, come from both SISE and PLA Unit 61398. In one paper from 2007, PLA researcher Chen Yi-qun worked with Xue Zhi, who has been credited with developing China's leading cyberattack platform, according to the school's Web site.