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China accuses US of carrying out cyberattacks on national time centre
Ministry of State Security claims American intelligence agency stole sensitive data and attacked the centre’s internal networks
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Zhang Tongin Beijing
China’s top counter-espionage agency has accused the United States of conducting cyberattacks against the country’s national time centre, which it said could have had a severe impact on the orderly functioning of society.
In a social media post on Sunday, the Ministry of State Security said the US National Security Agency was behind a number of cyberattacks against China’s National Time Service Centre.
The centre – affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and based in Xian, Shaanxi province – is responsible for generating and distributing China’s standard time.
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It also provides highly precise timing services for the country’s communications, finance, power, transport, mapping and defence sectors.
The US embassy in China did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In Sunday’s statement, the ministry said the cyberattacks against the time centre were “long-term, highly covert, and employed state-level cyberespionage tools”.
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