China

Pierluigi Paganini August 31, 2026
China-linked Fire Ant Hides Inside Trusted Infrastructure

Fire Ant hijacked Cisco routers, stole credentials and altered logs to hide its tracks, using trusted infrastructure to reach high-value networks. Chinese-linked cyber espionage group Fire Ant has spent the past year quietly graduating from hacking individual computers to hacking the infrastructure that connects them. Sygnia’s new report traces how the group expanded from compromising […]

Pierluigi Paganini August 29, 2026
Philippine Nuclear and Naval Targets Hit by Suspected Chinese Operator

An alleged Chinese-speaking actor breached Philippine nuclear and naval targets by exploiting known flaws, stealing sensitive data. A suspected Chinese-speaking operator targeted a Philippine nuclear research body and a marine engineering company that supports the Philippine Navy, using well-known vulnerabilities in internet-facing ownCloud and WordPress systems. The activity was uncovered after Hunt.io found an exposed […]

Pierluigi Paganini August 26, 2026
FBI Seizes China-Linked Hacking Platforms QScan and QTRouter Used Against Critical Infrastructure

FBI seizes QScan and QTRouter, China-linked platforms used to hide intrusions and target U.S. critical infrastructure. The U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI have seized two platforms, QScan and QTRouter, used by a China-linked group to hide cyberattacks and target critical infrastructure. The operation matters because it shows how state-backed actors no longer need […]

Pierluigi Paganini August 13, 2026
Storm-1175 Replaces Medusa With New StormEncryptor Ransomware

Microsoft says China-linked Storm-1175 is using a new ransomware called StormEncryptor, replacing Medusa in its latest attacks. Microsoft says China-linked, financially motivated threat actor Storm-1175 has begun using a new ransomware strain called StormEncryptor. The group previously relied on Medusa ransomware. StormEncryptor is written in C++ and encrypts files and adds the .encrypted extension, then […]

Pierluigi Paganini August 12, 2026
China-Linked Hackers Use AI Agents in Autonomous Attack on Taiwan

China-linked hackers reportedly used eight AI agents to breach a government network, steal data and compromise accounts with minimal human oversight. Israeli cybersecurity firm Dream documented what looks like the first fully autonomous, end-to-end AI hacking operation against a government target. Over four days at the start of July, according to the Financial Times, suspected […]

Pierluigi Paganini August 08, 2026
Palo Alto Networks Faces China Cybersecurity Review Amid Rising Tech Tensions

China opened a cybersecurity review of Palo Alto Networks, citing national security concerns but giving no details about the reasons behind the probe. China’s Cyberspace Administration (CAC) announced that it’s launching a cybersecurity review of products Palo Alto Networks sells in the country. The announcement itself runs to a few sentences of formal Chinese, citing […]

Pierluigi Paganini August 03, 2026
AI Runs the Hack: Chinese Actor Automates Cyberattacks With DeepSeek

Unit 42 uncovered an AI-driven Chinese hacking campaign where DeepSeek autonomously scanned targets, selected exploits, and launched attacks. Researchers at Palo Alto’s Unit 42 got a front-row seat to something they’d only theorized about before: an AI system running an actual hacking campaign with almost no human steering it. The researchers spotted a Chinese-speaking actor, […]

Pierluigi Paganini July 31, 2026
SilverFox Targets Japanese Manufacturer With Advanced ValleyRAT Campaign

SilverFox targeted a Japanese manufacturer with new DLL sideloading techniques, kernel drivers, and resilient ValleyRAT persistence mechanisms. Cato CTRL documented a new SilverFox campaign targeting a Japanese industrial manufacturer. The attack chain adds two previously undocumented DLL-sideloading hosts, two kernel drivers not previously associated with SilverFox, and a dual-layer recovery architecture that keeps ValleyRAT running […]

Pierluigi Paganini July 18, 2026
Daxin: 13-Year-Old China-Linked Malware Found Still Active on Manufacturer’s Network

Researchers found China’s Daxin rootkit and a new Stupig backdoor on a Taiwan firm’s network, suggesting a stealthy intrusion dating back to 2013. Symantec’s Threat Hunter Team found Daxin running on a compromised host at a Taiwan-based subsidiary of a multinational high-tech manufacturer in 2026. Daxin is a Windows kernel-mode rootkit that Symantec first documented […]

Pierluigi Paganini July 16, 2026
Claude Code and DeepSeek Powered Chinese Cyber Espionage Campaign

Chinese actors used Claude Code and DeepSeek to automate attacks that breached government systems and targeted financial firms. Hunt.io researchers stumbled onto an active intrusion campaign in June 2026 while pivoting on known TencShell command-and-control infrastructure. A single HTTP header fingerprint on port 1111 led them to 13 Hong Kong-based servers and, on one of […]