China has accused the United States of infiltrating its National Time Service Center in a sustained cyberattack campaign, warning that such breaches could disrupt critical national infrastructure, including communication networks, financial systems, and the power grid.
In a statement Sunday, China’s State Security Ministry alleged that the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) conducted a prolonged operation to steal secrets from the center, which is responsible for generating and maintaining the country’s standard time. The ministry warned that a serious breach could even compromise the international standard time.
The investigation claims to have found evidence of stolen data and credentials dating back to 2022. According to the ministry, the U.S. intelligence agency exploited a vulnerability in a foreign smartphone’s messaging service that year to spy on staff members’ mobile devices and access the center’s network. Further attacks allegedly targeted the center’s internal network and high-precision ground-based timing system in 2023 and 2024.
While not directly addressing the specific allegations, the U.S. embassy in Beijing countered that cyber actors based in China have compromised major telecommunications providers globally to conduct widespread espionage. “China is the most active and persistent cyber threat to U.S. government, private-sector, and critical infrastructure networks,” an embassy spokesperson told Reuters.
The incident is the latest in a series of escalating cyber espionage accusations between the two global powers. These latest claims arise amid renewed trade tensions, fueled by China’s expanded export controls on rare earths and potential U.S. tariff hikes on Chinese goods.
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