China's top industry regulator confirmed to China Daily on Wednesday that it has suspended Alibaba Cloud, the cloud computing arm of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, as a cooperative partner of its cybersecurity threat information sharing platform for six months.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said that the suspension came after Alibaba Cloud failed to report a major security loophole to it in time, and the company failed to effectively support the ministry's efforts to manage cybersecurity threats and vulnerabilities.

The ministry said once the suspension period expires, it will study whether to resume Alibaba Cloud’s identity as cooperative partner based on the company’s efforts to rectify its operations.

Alibaba Cloud did not immediately respond to requests for comments.