China accuses U.S. of cyber breaches at national time centre

China has accused the United States of stealing sensitive data and infiltrating its National Time Service Centre, warning that such breaches could have disrupted communications, financial systems, power supplies, and the international standard time network.

In a statement posted on its WeChat account on Sunday, China’s Ministry of State Security alleged that the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) had conducted a prolonged cyberattack against the National Time Service Centre.

According to the ministry, investigators uncovered evidence of stolen data and login credentials dating back to 2022, which were allegedly used to monitor staff mobile devices and network systems at the centre.

The ministry claimed that the NSA “exploited a vulnerability” in the messaging app of an unnamed foreign smartphone brand to gain access to employees’ devices in 2022.

The National Time Service Centre, part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, is responsible for producing, maintaining, and distributing China’s official standard time.

The ministry also said that the U.S. carried out further attacks on the centre’s internal networks and attempted to target its high-precision ground-based timing systems in 2023 and 2024.

The U.S. embassy in Beijing did not respond directly to the allegations but countered that China-based cyber actors have compromised major American and global telecommunications networks to conduct extensive espionage operations.

“China remains the most active and persistent cyber threat to U.S. government, private-sector, and critical infrastructure networks,” a spokesperson for the embassy said in an email to Reuters.

The two countries have increasingly exchanged cyber-espionage accusations in recent years, each branding the other as its principal digital adversary.

The latest claims come amid escalating trade tensions, following China’s tighter controls on rare earth exports and Washington’s warning that it could impose additional tariffs on Chinese products.

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