China's security authorities said they have found conclusive evidence of a major cyber intrusion by the US National Security Agency (NSA) targeting the National Time Service Center (NTSC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

Following a thorough and meticulous investigation, China's security authorities found the US NSA's cyberattack operations against the NTSC were "long-planned, structured and escalating," China Media Group (CMG) reported.

Since March 25, 2022, The US NSA exploited a vulnerability in the messaging service of a foreign smartphone brand to hack and control multiple staff devices at the NTSC, stealing sensitive data stored on them.

Beginning April 18, 2023, the NSA used the stolen login credentials to break into the NTSC's computer systems and probe the construction of its internal network.

From August 2023 to June 2024, the agency deployed a new cyber-operation platform, using 42 types of specialized cyber weapons to launch high-intensity attacks on several internal network systems, while attempting to penetrate the "high-precision ground-based timing system" and implant capabilities to paralyze or destroy it.

Investigators found that most attacks were launched between midnight and dawn Beijing Time, with the US NSA using virtual private servers based in the US, Europe and Asia to disguise its origin. The attackers forged digital certificates, bypassed antivirus detection and used strong encryption algorithms to erase traces of intrusion.

China's security authorities had gathered key evidence, helped the NTSC cut off attack chains, upgraded defense systems and eliminated security risks.

Located in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, the NTSC is responsible for generating, maintaining and broadcasting "Beijing Time," which underpins the timing accuracy of China's communication, finance, power, transportation, mapping and defense sectors.

The center also provides key data for calculating Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), has developed a world-leading independent time measurement system, and built the "high-precision ground-based timing system," a major national science and technology infrastructure.

If these systems were compromised, it could endanger the stable operation of "Beijing Time," triggering network communication failures, financial system disorder, power outages, transportation paralysis and even launch failures in aerospace missions.

According to CMG, in recent years, the US has been aggressively promoting cyber hegemony and repeatedly trampling on the rules of the international cyberspace. The NSA and other US intelligence agencies have been arbitrarily launching cyberattacks against China, Southeast Asia, Europe and South America. They have intruded into critical infrastructure, stolen intelligence, monitored key individuals, violated the cyber sovereignty and privacy of other countries, severely threatening global cyberspace security.

The US also uses its technical facilities in places like the Philippines, Japan and China's Taiwan region to launch cyberattacks, hiding its own actions and shifting blame. Meanwhile, the US has hyped up the so-called "China cyber threat theory," coerced other countries to stir up "Chinese hacker attack incidents," sanctioned Chinese enterprises and prosecuted Chinese citizens to confuse the public and distort the truth. However, the facts show that the US is the real "empire of hackers" and the biggest source of chaos in cyberspace, according to CMG.