X-Industry

A Chinese state-aligned threat actor may have been spying on Russia's government for years through its IT sector.  For all of the adversarial intelligence gathering going on in the world today, there is also plenty of spying among friends. Friendly nations, and friendly-ish nations like China and Russia, regularly use cyberspace against their allies to glean potentially valuable political or economic intelligence, gain advantages in strategic negotiations, or simply steal technology.

On 20 Novem

A China-linked hacking group known as APT31 has infiltrated Russia’s technology sector for years and quietly exfiltrated data from companies involved in government contracting and systems integration, according to a new report.  The campaign, which ran into this year, was “well-planned” and allowed intruders to remain undetected, Russian cybersecurity firm Positive Technologies said in research published on last week. 

Public reports of Chinese cyber operations against Russia are rare, given the

The concept of robots fighting back is explored in both fictional narratives and real-life incidents, raising questions about the implications of advanced robotics and AI.[1]  By now you’ve probably watched a few (dozen) videos from Boston Dynamics, the robotics company that makes its bones on developing bots that can do wildly impressive things.  Heck, you’ve probably seen the firm’s viral videos posted on our page.  Every few months, the Massachusetts-based maker releases clips of its creation

In January 2025, FortiGuard Labs observed Winos 4.0 attacks targeting users in Taiwan.  In February, it became clear the actor had changed malware families and expanded operations.  What first appeared isolated was part of a broader campaign that shifted from China to Taiwan, then Japan, and most recently Malaysia.

This article examines the methodologies employed to identify strategic connections between their campaigns, revealing how seemingly unrelated attacks are linked through shared infrast

Until recently, Tim Haugh was among America's top spymasters. The four-star general spent 33 years in Air Force Intelligence and rose to lead America's largest and most advanced intelligence agency.  Haugh was also in charge of defending America from computer threats.  In his first television interview since retirement, General Haugh is here to warn that China has hacked into US computer networks to an astonishing degree.  And he believes he knows why.  The surprise, Tim Haugh told us, is that C

A Chinese state-sponsored threat actor known as TA415 has been linked to a string of spearphishing attacks against US government entities, think tanks, and academic institutions in July and August of 2025.  The campaign tailored its lures by using US-China economic and trade topics, even impersonating the US-China Business Council and the Chair of the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition to target individuals focused on relations and policy between the two nations.

Emails appeared to

US lawmakers have accused the Chinese government of being behind a cyber espionage campaign that impersonated a prominent Congressman.  The House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the US and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) said that CCP-affiliated actors impersonated its Chairman, Representative John Moolenaar (R-MI), in emails to “trusted counterparts” to try and trick them into malicious files and links.[1]

These files and links were designed to grant attackers access to vict

Incident responders discovered a novel malware framework while investigating an attack on a Philippine military company attributed to a government-backed hacking group from China.  Cybersecurity company Bitdefender published a blog post this week about EggStreme,  a multi-stage toolset that gave the alleged Chinese hackers backdoor access to conduct an espionage campaign.  The core component of the malware, EggStremeAgent, allows hackers to perform reconnaissance, move laterally around a victim’

This reads like a James Bond movie.  Chinese scientists have been devising sophisticated ways to destroy Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite network, including using stealth submarines fitted with space-shooting lasers, amid Chinese government fears that the technology poses a risk to its strategic interests.  As of 2025, China's military, specifically the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), is estimated to operate between 65 and 75 submarines. This fleet includes both nuclear-powered and diesel-el

China is conducting intelligence operations in The Netherlands that are targeting key industrial sectors including semiconductors, aerospace and maritime technology, Dutch Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans recently warned.  Dutch national security and transatlantic supply chains are in danger because of state sponsored cyber-attacks and clandestine intelligence operations.  This activity threatens not only the Netherlands, but also the entire free world.

In reaction to similar Chinese targeting

A new report from NATO’s Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence (CCDCOE) warns that global ports are vulnerable in the wake of escalating cyber threats.  The policy brief highlights that ports, which handle approximately 80% of international trade, “face unprecedented cybersecurity threats from state-linked actors” from Russia, Iran, and China.  These actors aim to disrupt operations and potentially inflict significant economic and military harm.

Ports serve as crucial nodes in NATO’s de

A cyber-espionage campaign linked to a sophisticated hacking group believed to be based in China is continuing to compromise virtualization and networking infrastructure used by enterprises globally, according to a new deep-dive report by cybersecurity company Sygnia.  The hackers are targeting VMware ESXi hypervisors, a type of software that controls and hosts virtual machines for enterprise networks.  They are using custom tools that grant persistent access while evading detection by standard

Chinese-linked hackers are targeting the Taiwanese semiconductor industry and investment analysts as part of a string of cyber espionage campaigns, researchers said on 17 July.  While hacking to steal data and information about the industry is not new, there is an increase in sustained hacking campaigns from several China-aligned hacking groups, researchers with cybersecurity firm Proofpoint said in a new analysis.  “We’ve seen entities that we hadn’t ever seen being targeted in the past being t

China has plans to introduce tighter regulatory controls over Artificial Intelligence (AI) Data Centers, which could have significant effects on the cryptocurrency market, sending ripples through the technology markets.  Such policies could impact the operational freedom of AI-driven companies and data processing hubs within the country.  Chinese regulators informed major tech companies, including Alibaba, Tencent Holdings, ByteDance, and Baidu, that they would tighten control over the construct

Chinese authorities have accused a hacker group allegedly backed by Taiwan of carrying out a cyberattack on a local technology company and targeting sensitive infrastructure across the mainland, state media reported.  According to police in Guangzhou, the group, allegedly linked to Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), has targeted more than 1,000 key networks in over 10 Chinese provinces, including military, energy, transportation and government systems.

Chinese authorities said t

Improved satellite connectivity has made vessels more efficient at sea, but it has also left their operations and network systems more vulnerable to cyber-attacks.  That is one of the main takeaways from a newly released report, which lays out threats to the Marine Transportation System (MTS) that Coast Guard Cyber identified in 2024, as well as ways operators can strengthen their cyber defenses against them. 

The fourth annual Cyber Trends and Insights in the Marine Environment (CTIME) report i

It is hard to believe that ten years have gone by since the devastating hack of the US Office of Personnel Management (OPM).  OPM handles all personnel matters for government employees, including all associated government documents.  BTW - I was a federal employee for 20 years and I am quite confident the CCP has all my personal information.  Ten years ago, that was big news.  Today, the threat remains high. 

US Senator Mark Warner warned the OPM last week that it should not end government contr

Security researchers have reported on an active Phishing-as-a-service (PhaaS) operation that victimized hundreds of thousands in just a few months.   According to Norwegian security firm Mnemonic, Darcula is designed to target iPhone and Android users with phishing messages, spoofing brands to trick them into handing over card details.  Operating globally, it convinces victims to click through on SMS, RCS, and iMessage texts impersonating brands such as delivery firms. Victims are asked to pay d

According to Dutch military intelligence, Russia is increasing its hybrid attacks aimed at undermining society in the Netherlands and its European allies, and Russian hackers have already targeted the Dutch public service.  "We see the Russian threat against Europe is increasing, including after a possible end to the war against Ukraine," MIVD director Peter Reesink said in the agency's annual report.  In the Netherlands, we saw the first (Russian) cyber sabotage act against a public service, wi

Chinese counterparts reveal that hacks had been targeting networks for years as a warning against aiding Taiwan.  China openly admitted it was behind a series of cyber-attacks on US infrastructure in a secret meeting with American officials, according to reports.  Members of the Chinese delegation indicated to their US counterparts in December 2024 that they had spent years targeting computer networks in electrical grids, water supplies and ports, in what appeared to be a warning against the US