Beijing – China has accused the United States of stealing secrets and infiltrating its National Time Service Center, warning that the cyber breaches could have disrupted communications, financial systems, power supplies, and international standard time.
According to a statement from China’s Ministry of State Security on WeChat, the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) conducted a prolonged cyber operation against the institute, tracing stolen data and credentials back to 2022. The stolen information was allegedly used to spy on staff mobile devices and network systems.
The ministry stated that the NSA had exploited a vulnerability in the messaging service of a foreign smartphone brand to access staff devices in 2022, though the brand was not named.
The National Time Service Center, part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, is responsible for generating, maintaining, and broadcasting China’s standard time. Investigations also revealed that the U.S. attempted attacks on the center’s internal network and high-precision ground-based timing system in 2023 and 2024.
The U.S. embassy has not yet responded to requests for comment.
Tensions between China and the U.S. have escalated in recent years with mutual cyberattack accusations, coinciding with renewed trade frictions over China’s rare earth export controls and potential U.S. tariff increases on Chinese goods.
