China accuses US of carrying out cyberattacks on national time centre

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, Report informs via South China Morning Post.

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.

It also provides highly precise timing services for the country's communications, finance, power, transport, mapping and defense sectors.