BEIJING - China has asked government agencies and companies to improve their ability to ward off computer hackers and data thieves, as the increasing popularity of the Internet has created more information security risks.

In a series of guidelines put forward by the State Council on Tuesday, government agencies have been advised to reduce the number of channels through which hackers might be able to attack and tighten supervision measures over classified information.

The energy and finance sectors, nuclear facilities, space programs and large infrastructure projects are required to put information security and supervision measures in place to guard against risks.

China is facing increasing cyberattacks and threats from overseas despite improved security, according to a report released earlier this month by the National Computer Network Emergency Response Coordination Center of China, China's primary computer security monitoring network.

A total of 47,000 overseas-based Internet protocol addresses (IPs) were involved in attacks against 8.9 million Chinese computers last year, compared to nearly 5 million targeted computers in 2010, the report says.

To protect the country's information resources, the State Council has called for strict regulation of data collection by enterprises and organizations and required government agencies to ensure safety in information exchanges.

According to the suggestions, efforts will be intensified in order to better detect and handle "information emergencies" and crack down on Internet crime.