China accuses US of cyber attack on national time center

BEIJING (AP) — China accused the U.S. National Security Agency on Sunday of carrying out cyberattacks against its national time center following an investigation, saying any damage to affected facilities could have disrupted network communications, financial systems and power supplies.

The Ministry of State Security claimed in a WeChat post that the U.S. agency exploited vulnerabilities in the messaging services of a foreign cellphone brand to steal sensitive information from the devices of National Time Service Center staff in 2022. It did not specify the brand.

The US agency also used 42 types of “special cyberattack weapons” to target the center’s multiple internal network systems and attempted to infiltrate a key timekeeping system between 2023 and 2024, it said.

He said he had evidence but did not provide it by mail.

The time center is responsible for generating and distributing China Standard Time, in addition to providing timekeeping services to sectors such as communications, finance, energy, transportation and defense. He had provided advice to the center to eliminate risks.

“The United States blames others for what it does itself, repeatedly exaggerating claims about Chinese cyber threats,” he said.

In recent years, Western governments have accused hackers linked to the Chinese government of targeting officials, journalists, businesses and others. The ministry’s statement could fuel tensions between Washington and Beijing, in addition to trade, technology and Taiwan issues.

The US embassy had no immediate comment.