China accuses US of cyber attack on national time centre

20/10/2025 7:19

China has accused the US national security agency of carrying out cyber attacks on its national time centre following an investigation, saying any damage to related facilities could have disrupted network communications, financial systems and power supply.



The ministry of state security alleged in a WeChat post that the US agency had exploited vulnerabilities in the messaging services of a foreign mobile phone brand to steal sensitive information from devices of the National Time Service Centre’s staff in 2022. It did not specify the brand.



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



The ministry said it had evidence but did not provide it in the post.