Security News > 2023 > March > Operation Soft Cell: Chinese Hackers Breach Middle East Telecom Providers
Telecommunication providers in the Middle East are the subject of new cyber attacks that commenced in the first quarter of 2023.
The intrusion set has been attributed to a Chinese cyber espionage actor associated with a long-running campaign dubbed Operation Soft Cell based on tooling overlaps.
Operation Soft Cell, according to Cybereason, refers to malicious activities undertaken by China-affiliated actors targeting telecommunications providers since at least 2012.
The Soft Cell threat actor, also tracked by Microsoft as Gallium, is known to target unpatched internet-facing services and use tools like Mimikatz to obtain credentials that allows for lateral movement across the targeted networks.
The findings come amid revelations that various other hacking groups, including BackdoorDiplomacy and WIP26, have set their sights on telecom service providers in the Middle East region.
"Chinese cyber espionage threat actors are known to have a strategic interest in the Middle East," the researchers concluded.
News URL
https://thehackernews.com/2023/03/operation-soft-cell-chinese-hackers.html
Related news
- Chinese hackers breach more US telecoms via unpatched Cisco routers (source)
- US sanctions Chinese firm, hacker behind telecom and Treasury hacks (source)
- Chinese hackers use custom malware to spy on US telecom networks (source)
- Chinese hackers targeted sanctions office in Treasury attack (source)
- US sanctions Chinese company linked to Flax Typhoon hackers (source)
- Chinese hackers also breached Charter and Windstream networks (source)
- US Treasury hack linked to Silk Typhoon Chinese state hackers (source)
- HPE investigates breach as hacker claims to steal source code (source)
- Trump 'waved a white flag to Chinese hackers' as Homeland Security axed cyber advisory boards (source)
- CISA: Hackers still exploiting older Ivanti bugs to breach networks (source)