Cyber-espionage
FCC rolls back cybersecurity rules for telcos, despite state-hacking risks
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has rolled back a previous ruling that required U.S. telecom carriers to implement stricter cybersecurity measures following the massive hack from the Chinese threat group known as Salt Typhoon. The ruling came in January 2025 and took effect immediately under the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), in response to Salt Typhoon’s breaching multiple […]
Google exposes BadAudio malware used in APT24 espionage campaigns
China-linked APT24 hackers have been using a previously undocumented malware called BadAudio in a three-year espionage campaign that recently switched to more sophisticated attack methods. Since 2022, the malware has been delivered to victims through multiple methods that include spearphishing, supply-chain compromise, and watering hole attacks. Campaign evolution From November 2022 until at least September 2025, APT24 […]
Anthropic claims of Claude AI-automated cyberattacks met with doubt
Anthropic reports that a Chinese state-sponsored threat group, tracked as GTG-1002, carried out a cyber-espionage operation that was largely automated through the abuse of the company’s Claude Code AI model. However, Anthropic’s claims immediately sparked widespread skepticism, with security researchers and AI practitioners calling the report “made up” or the company of overstating the incident. “I […]
China-linked hackers exploited Lanscope flaw as a zero-day in attacks
China-linked cyber-espionage actors tracked as ‘Bronze Butler’ (Tick) exploited a Motex Lanscope Endpoint Manager vulnerability as a zero-day to deploy an updated version of their Gokcpdoor malware. The discovery of this activity comes from Sophos researchers, who observed the threat actors exploiting the vulnerability in mid-2025 before it was patched to steal confidential information. The flaw […]
Windows zero-day actively exploited to spy on European diplomats
A China-linked hacking group is exploiting a Windows zero-day in attacks targeting European diplomats in Hungary, Belgium, and other European nations. According to Arctic Wolf Labs, the attack chain begins with spearphishing emails that lead to the delivery of malicious LNK files themed around NATO defense procurement workshops, European Commission border facilitation meetings, and various […]
Dutch teens arrested for trying to spy on Europol for Russia
Two Dutch teenage boys aged 17, reportedly used hacking devices to spy for Russia, have been arrested by the Politie on Monday. According to De Telegraaf, the two used a WiFi sniffer device near Europol and Eurojust offices, as well as the Canadian embassy in The Hague. GeekFeed has contacted Europol to confirm the reports, and a […]
Google: Brickstorm malware used to steal U.S. orgs’ data for over a year
Suspected Chinese hackers have used the Brickstorm malware in long-term persistence espionage operations against U.S. organizations in the technology and legal sectors. Brickstorm is a Go-based backdoor documented by Google in April 2024 following China-related intrusions that spawned from various edge devices and remained undetected in the victim environment for more than a year, on average. The […]
XenoRAT malware campaign hits multiple embassies in South Korea
A state-sponsored espionage campaign is targeting foreign embassies in South Korea to deploy XenoRAT malware from malicious GitHub repositories. According to Trellix researchers, the campaign has been running since March and is ongoing, having launched at least 19 spearphishing attacks against high-value targets. Although infrastructure and techniques match the pllaybook of North Korean actor Kimsuky (APT43), there are signs that better […]
Curly COMrades cyberspies hit govt orgs with custom malware
A new cyber-espionage threat group has been using a new backdoor malware that provides persistent access through a seemingly inactive scheduled task. The threat actor’s operations appear to support Russian interests by targeting government and judicial bodies in Georgia, and energy firms in Moldova. The attacker is currently tracked as Curly COMrades and has been active since […]
Canada says Salt Typhoon hacked telecom firm via Cisco flaw
The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security and the FBI confirm that the Chinese state-sponsored ‘Salt Typhoon’ hacking group is also targeting Canadian telecommunication firms, breaching a telecom provider in February. During the February 2025 incident, Salt Typhoon exploited the CVE-2023-20198 flaw, a critical Cisco IOS XE vulnerability allowing remote, unauthenticated attackers to create arbitrary accounts and gain admin-level privileges. The flaw […]