NSA Accused of Multi-Stage Cyber Attack on China's National Time Service Center

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1. 20.10.2025 08:32 1 articles · 11h ago

   NSA Accused of Multi-Stage Cyber Attack on China's National Time Service Center

   The Ministry of State Security (MSS) in China has accused the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) of conducting a multi-stage cyber attack on the National Time Service Center (NTSC) from March 2022 to June 2024. The attack targeted the generation, maintenance, and transmission of Beijing Time, potentially causing severe consequences such as network communication failures and financial system disruptions. The MSS claims the NSA exploited vulnerabilities in an unnamed foreign SMS service to compromise mobile devices of NTSC staff, steal sensitive data, and deploy a cyber warfare platform with 42 specialized tools. The attacks involved lateral movement and attempts to disrupt a high-precision ground-based timing system. The MSS alleges that the NSA used VPSes in the U.S., Europe, and Asia to route malicious traffic and employed tactics such as forging digital certificates and high-strength encryption to conceal its activities. The attacks were reportedly neutralized, and additional security measures were implemented.

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   • MSS Claims NSA Used 42 Cyber Tools in Multi-Stage Attack on Beijing Time Systems — thehackernews.com — 20.10.2025 08:32

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Information Snippets

• The National Time Service Center (NTSC) is responsible for generating, maintaining, and transmitting Beijing Time.

  First reported: 20.10.2025 08:32
  1 source, 1 article
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  • MSS Claims NSA Used 42 Cyber Tools in Multi-Stage Attack on Beijing Time Systems — thehackernews.com — 20.10.2025 08:32

• The NSA allegedly exploited vulnerabilities in an unnamed foreign SMS service to compromise NTSC staff mobile devices.

  First reported: 20.10.2025 08:32
  1 source, 1 article
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  • MSS Claims NSA Used 42 Cyber Tools in Multi-Stage Attack on Beijing Time Systems — thehackernews.com — 20.10.2025 08:32

• The NSA is accused of using stolen login credentials to break into NTSC computers and probe its infrastructure.

  First reported: 20.10.2025 08:32
  1 source, 1 article
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  • MSS Claims NSA Used 42 Cyber Tools in Multi-Stage Attack on Beijing Time Systems — thehackernews.com — 20.10.2025 08:32

• The NSA reportedly deployed a cyber warfare platform with 42 specialized tools to attack NTSC's internal network systems.

  First reported: 20.10.2025 08:32
  1 source, 1 article
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  • MSS Claims NSA Used 42 Cyber Tools in Multi-Stage Attack on Beijing Time Systems — thehackernews.com — 20.10.2025 08:32

• The attacks involved attempts to disrupt a high-precision ground-based timing system.

  First reported: 20.10.2025 08:32
  1 source, 1 article
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  • MSS Claims NSA Used 42 Cyber Tools in Multi-Stage Attack on Beijing Time Systems — thehackernews.com — 20.10.2025 08:32

• The NSA allegedly used VPSes in the U.S., Europe, and Asia to route malicious traffic and conceal its origins.

  First reported: 20.10.2025 08:32
  1 source, 1 article
  Show sources

  • MSS Claims NSA Used 42 Cyber Tools in Multi-Stage Attack on Beijing Time Systems — thehackernews.com — 20.10.2025 08:32

• The MSS claims that the NSA employed tactics such as forging digital certificates and high-strength encryption to erase attack traces.

  First reported: 20.10.2025 08:32
  1 source, 1 article
  Show sources

  • MSS Claims NSA Used 42 Cyber Tools in Multi-Stage Attack on Beijing Time Systems — thehackernews.com — 20.10.2025 08:32

• The attacks were reportedly launched between late night and early morning Beijing time.

  First reported: 20.10.2025 08:32
  1 source, 1 article
  Show sources

  • MSS Claims NSA Used 42 Cyber Tools in Multi-Stage Attack on Beijing Time Systems — thehackernews.com — 20.10.2025 08:32