ATLANTA - An Algerian man accused of helping to develop and market a computer program that drained millions of dollars from bank accounts around the world pleaded not guilty Friday to nearly two dozen charges.

Beijing must take steps to investigate and halt cybercrime, a top US official said Monday, warning the international community cannot tolerate the widespread hacking coming from China. "This is not solely a national security concern or a concern of the US government," National Security Advisor Tom Donilon told The Asia Society. "Increasingly, US businesses are speaking out about their serious concerns about sophisticated, targeted theft of confidential business information... through cyber-intrusions emanating from China at a very large scale."

Hackers have claimed the scalp of the South African Ministry of State Security's Twitter account, underlining concerns that Africa may be the soft underbelly of global cyber security. As part of what was described as a large-scale attack spammers hijacked the @StateSecurityRS account to advertise a "miracle diet" before officials were able to change the password and regain control. "Necessary security measures have been put in place to avert similar occurrences," State Security Spokesperson Brian Dube told AFP.

China's full-throated denials of hacking and counter-accusations of its own do nothing to allay growing concern over large-scale cyberspying alleged in a bombshell report this week, Western analysts said. Chinese officials and state-run media have lashed out after a report by a US firm laid out in unprecedented detail what Western officials and experts have long claimed: that China's army runs an aggressive hacking operation targeting US firms.