Bloomberg: Chinese authorities accused the U.S. of cyberattacks on the National Time Center.
China's Ministry of State Security has accused the United States of cyberattacks on the National Time Center, which could have affected the normal functioning of the organization. Bloomberg reports this.
China's counterintelligence agency stated that they have "irrefutable evidence" that the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) exploited vulnerabilities on the smartphones of some employees of the National Time Center to carry out a hacking attack in March 2022. As a result of the breach, the NSA obtained confidential data intended for official use, including access passwords to work services. For the cyberattacks, the American intelligence allegedly used servers located around the world.
Chinese authorities claim that in April 2023, the NSA repeatedly used the stolen data to hack into the computers of the National Time Service Center. This institution provides high-precision timekeeping services to the Chinese government, industrial enterprises, and companies, as well as data for the precise calculation of international standard time.
Beijing emphasized that measures to protect against cyberattacks have already been taken, and the National Time Center has been tasked with conducting an investigation to identify potential vulnerabilities and update protocols for future security breaches.
