china
Chinese hackers use SparroWocky malware in govt espionage attacks
The China-linked espionage group FamousSparrow has been using a new backdoor named SparroWocky in attacks on government organizations in Latin America. The operations have been ongoing for more than a year, with the new malware replacing the previously used SparrowDoor custom backdoor. ESET researchers observed SparroWocky in attacks targeting organizations in Argentina, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, […]
Hackers exploit Tencent app flaw to deploy GrayRabbit malware
Threat actors linked to a China-aligned espionage group are exploiting a critical vulnerability (CVE-2026-51990) in Tencent’s Sogou Input Method for Windows to deploy the GrayRabbit backdoor. Researchers at cybersecurity company Gen Digital warn that the security issue is a one-click remote code execution (RCE) flaw. “We observed this vulnerability actively exploited in the wild by […]
US says Chinese firms extracted billions of tokens from frontier AI models
U.S. cybersecurity and intelligence agencies say that six Chinese AI companies conducted industrial-scale distillation attacks on American frontier AI models since at least late 2024. A joint advisory from CISA, NSA, and the FBI states that DeepSeek, Moonshot AI, Alibaba, MiniMax, StepFun, and Z.AI extracted billions of tokens through millions of requests from frontier AI […]
Chinese Fire Ant hackers turn Cisco routers into spying platforms
The researchers discovered Fire Ant’s new tactic after finding an active GRE (Generic Routing Encapsulation) tunnel interface on a Cisco IOS XR router that could not be explained by a running configuration or commit history. According to incident response company Sygnia, the threat actor switched from targeting VMware hypervisors to compromising Cisco routers, TACACS authentication servers, […]
FBI disrupts proxy network enabling Chinese espionage operations
The FBI has disrupted infrastructure associated with a technical “quartermaster” that provided reconnaissance, proxy management, and operational routing capabilities for Chinese cyber espionage activities. According to the Department of Justice, a threat actor known as QTFY/QT/QTCYBER utilized two “hacking platforms known as ‘QScan’ and ‘QTRouter,’” in attacks targeting U.S. critical infrastructure and other sensitive networks. Among QTFY’s […]
New Dysphoria DDoS botnet spreads to 200k devices worldwide
A botnet called Dysphoria has compromised around 200,000 devices across the world and is using them for distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks and traffic relay operations. According to QiAnXin XLab cybersecurity researchers, Dysphoria evolved from the ‘jackskid’ and ‘fbot’ malware by adding a covert blockchain-based command-and-control (C2) resolution mechanism. Specifically, the botnet uses Ethereum […]
Hackers exploit Roundcube flaw to spy on academic researchers
A China-linked threat cluster has been exploiting vulnerable Roundcube servers at U.S. and Canadian universities to steal credentials and deploy backdoor malware. The campaign has been observed since May and focuses on physics and engineering departments, administrators and professors, as well as organizations involved in astrophysics, particle physics, or national security-related research. Researchers at cybersecurity company […]
Chinese hackers develop LONGLEASH malware to expand ORB network
Chinese hackers tracked as ‘UAT-7810’ are actively evolving their malware to expand their Operational Relay Box (ORB) network by compromising internet-facing networking devices, primarily unpatched Ruckus routers. According to Cisco Talos researchers, the ORB network serves as a secure relay infrastructure for other China-aligned advanced persistent threats (APTs), including UAT-5918. This type of infrastructure, which […]
Windows version of SprySOCKS Linux malware used to attack govt orgs
Windows variants for the SprySOCKS Linux malware have been used in attacks targeting government organizations in at least four countries. SprySOCKS has been linked to the Chinese threat group ‘Earth Lusca,’ which deployed it in attacks against government entities focused on foreign affairs, technology, and telecommunications. Now, ESET researchers discovered Windows variants of the same malware family […]
Chinese hackers breach REDCap servers, steal medical research
A China-linked espionage campaign targeted exposed REDCap servers to deploy the InfiniteRed malware and steal sensitive data from a medical institution in North America. Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) researchers attribute the attacks to a threat actor tracked as UNC6508, who remained undetected for more than a year in the victim network. The REDCap platform is […]