Even a 1-Nanosecond Time Error Could Disrupt Calls and Internet Access — State Media “Yuyuantantian” Reveals Why the U.S. Targeted China’s Time Service Center

IT Home reported on October 19 that according to the official WeChat account of China’s Ministry of State Security, Chinese authorities recently uncovered a major U.S. cyberattack case. Investigators obtained irrefutable evidence that the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) had launched a cyber intrusion into China’s National Time Service Center. The operation successfully thwarted the U.S. attempt to steal data and sabotage China’s systems—safeguarding the accuracy and integrity of “Beijing Time.”

The state media outlet “Yuyuantantian” further published an in-depth analysis today, revealing why the U.S. targeted China’s time service infrastructure and explaining the critical importance of maintaining Beijing Time’s precision down to the nanosecond.

Through systems such as the BeiDou satellites, shortwave and longwave transmissions, low-frequency time codes, telephone networks, and the internet, China’s standard time is distributed across essential sectors—communications, electricity, transportation, surveying, aerospace, and national defense. Each of these systems synchronizes their clocks with the signals received from the National Time Service Center. Any deviation in China’s official standard time would ripple across these industries, affecting the power grid, communication networks, government systems, and transportation operations.

Located in Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ National Time Service Center is the origin of “Beijing Time.” It maintains national standard time with a deviation of less than 3 nanoseconds from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). To put that into perspective, one nanosecond equals one-billionth of a second. The Center’s core technology, the cesium atomic clock, can operate continuously for 60 million years with an accumulated error of less than one second—an astonishing level of precision.

The consequences of even the slightest time deviation are staggering:

• A 1 millisecond (0.001 second) difference could disrupt power substation sequencing and trigger massive blackouts.
• A 1 microsecond (0.000001 second) difference could shift international stock trades by billions.
• A 1 nanosecond (0.000000001 second) difference could reduce BeiDou satellite positioning accuracy by 30 centimeters.
• A 1 nanosecond delay could also desynchronize radio carriers, making phone calls and internet connections impossible.
• A 1 picosecond (0.000000000001 second) deviation could throw off the positioning of lunar rovers or the Chang’e spacecraft by several kilometers.

This case underscores the immense national and global importance of time precision—where even a billionth of a second can make the difference between smooth operation and total disruption.