China Accuses U.S. of Cyberattacks Targeting National Time center
BEIJING (AP) – China’s Ministry of State Security on Sunday accused the U.S. National Security Agency of conducting cyberattacks against its National Time Service Center, alleging the intrusions could have jeopardized critical infrastructure. The ministry claims the attacks, spanning 2022-2024, targeted the center’s network systems and attempted to infiltrate a key timing system.
The allegations come amid heightened tensions between the U.S. and China over trade, technology, and geopolitical issues, and follow years of reciprocal accusations of cyber espionage.The National Time Service Center is responsible for generating and distributing china’s standard time, a crucial function for communications, finance, power, transport, and defense sectors. Disruption to this system,according to the ministry,could have had widespread consequences.
According to a WeChat post by the Ministry of State Security, the NSA exploited vulnerabilities in the messaging services of an unnamed foreign mobile phone brand to steal information from staff devices at the center in 2022. Between 2023 and 2024, the agency allegedly deployed 42 types of “special cyberattack weapons” in attempts to breach the center’s internal networks. The ministry stated it possesses evidence of the attacks but did not publicly release it.
“The U.S. is accusing others of what it does itself, repeatedly hyping up claims about Chinese cyber threats,” the ministry stated.
Western governments have previously accused hackers linked to the Chinese government of targeting officials, journalists, and corporations. The U.S. Embassy has not yet commented on the latest allegations.
