China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) has formally accused the US National Security Agency (NSA) of carrying out a prolonged, systematic cyberattack campaign against the country’s National Time Service Center (NTSC), warning of severe national security implications. The NTSC is the research institute responsible for generating, maintaining, and broadcasting China’s standard time, which is vital for the secure and stable operation of critical sectors. A cyber breach on the Center could potentially disrupt communication networks, financial systems, the power supply, and international standard timekeeping.
The MSS detailed a multi-year operation, claiming the NSA first gained access in March 2022 by exploiting a vulnerability in the messaging service of an unnamed foreign smartphone brand to steal data from staff devices. Between 2023 and 2024, the US agency allegedly escalated the attack, deploying 42 specialized cyber weapons to target the center’s internal network systems and attempt to infiltrate the High-Accurate Ground-based Time Service System, aiming to pre-position capabilities for sabotage.The accusation, released via a WeChat post, emphasizes that the US is engaging in the very cyber-espionage it publicly attributes to China, calling the US actions a “grave threat to global cybersecurity.” Chinese authorities claim to have secured ironclad evidence of the attacks and have guided the NTSC in cutting off the attack chains and eliminating the risks. The diplomatic fallout over the cyber issue comes amid renewed tensions between Washington and Beijing on trade and technology.
