Chinese state media broadcaster Chinese Central Television (CCTV) has released a news report labeling Windows 8 as a "potential threat" to the country's information security.

In the news report aired this week, Chinese Academy of Engineering academician Ni Guangnan said the operating system (OS) could potentially gather more data on Chinese nationals that what the US can actually admit. Ni said the collected data could wind up in the hands of the American government, ZDNet relayed.

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The academic explained that Windows 8 could use a person's identity, contact list, accounts, phone numbers, and other information for a very accurate big data analysis. He then said the US law requires any entity in possession of this data to surrender it voluntarily to the US government, thus providing the latter with a convenient way to monitor other nations.

Yang Min of Fudan University was also interviewed in the CCTV report and he said Microsoft has withheld its source code from China as it launches a review of US equipment within the Asian country's borders. He added that this could be a "challenge" to China's security.

Yang further explained that although Microsoft's Windows 8 source code has been withheld from the Chinese government, the mechanism of the OS could provide the company with access to users' database. He said China has already formed a cyber security and information technology center to manufacture its own OS and address their security concerns.

According to the news report, because Windows 8 is deemed a "challenge" to security, other countries such as Germany and Russia opt to use local OS in the offices of their government entities. The two countries have already begun working on an open source OS within government offices and China intends to do the same.

China has been wary of US IT products since US National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden leaked documents gathered extensively through the US data surveillance system. Since then, both China and the US have accused each other of cyber espionage.

Last month, the US government charged five Chinese military officials of hacking into American companies to steal trade secrets.

Last week, word has spread that the People's Bank of China as well as other government entities, were investigating the use of IBM servers in their offices. The banks were urged to replace the servers with local products to avoid compromising the country's financial security.

In May, the Chinese government had banned the use of Windows 8 in all its new office computers. It had also ceased cooperating with the US on efforts their efforts to maintain cyber security.

TagsChinese state media, Windows 8, security threat, Operating System, Edward Snowden, NSA