Security News
China has banned U.S. chip maker Micron from selling its products to Chinese companies working on key infrastructure projects, citing national security risks. The development comes nearly two months after the country's cybersecurity authority initiated a probe in late March 2023 to assess potential network security risks.
US memory-maker Micron has no idea why Chinese authorities have decided its products represent a security risk, or which customers it's not allowed to sell to. Micron CFO Mark Murphy on Monday told J.P. Morgan's 51st Annual Global Technology, Media and Communications Conference that China's Cyberspace Administration, which on Sunday announced the chipmaker had failed a security review, has offered no reason for that opinion.
The rising geopolitical tensions between China and Taiwan in recent months have sparked a noticeable uptick in cyber attacks on the East Asian island country. "From malicious emails and URLs to malware, the strain between China's claim of Taiwan as part of its territory and Taiwan's maintained independence has evolved into a worrying surge in attacks," the Trellix Advanced Research Center said in a new report.
The Chinese nation-state actor known as Mustang Panda has been linked to a new set of sophisticated and targeted attacks aimed at European foreign affairs entities since January 2023. An analysis of these intrusions, per Check Point researchers Itay Cohen and Radoslaw Madej, has revealed a custom firmware implant designed explicitly for TP-Link routers.
The National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center of China and local infosec outfit 360 Total Security have conducted an investigation called "The Matrix" that found the CIA conducts offensive cyber ops, and labelled the United States an "Empire of Hacking". The two orgs have been good enough to publish the first part of their work, titled Empire of Hacking: The US Central Intelligence Agency - Part I. The document doesn't offer much new info, leaning heavily on the 2017 infodump from WikiLeaks that detailed the "Vault7" trove of exploits the CIA uses to spy on computers, smart TVs, WhatsApp and just about any other device or service you might use.
China has 50 hackers for every one of the FBI's cyber-centric agents, the Bureau's director told a congressional committee last week. "The scale of the Chinese cyber threat is unparalleled. They've got a bigger hacking program than every other major nation combined and have stolen more of our personal and corporate data than all other nations big or small combined."
The advanced persistent threat group referred to as Evasive Panda has been observed targeting an international non-governmental organization in Mainland China with malware delivered via update channels of legitimate applications like Tencent QQ. The attack chains are designed to distribute a Windows installer for MgBot malware, ESET security researcher Facundo Muñoz said in a new report published today. The group's hallmark is the use of the custom MgBot modular malware framework, which is capable of receiving additional components on the fly to expand on its intelligence-gathering capabilities.
"In the two schemes, the defendants created and used fake social media accounts to harass and intimidate PRC dissidents residing abroad," states the Department's announcement of the charges. The DoJ alleges the Group ran a troll farm that "Created thousands of fake online personas on social media sites, including Twitter, to target Chinese dissidents through online harassment and threats."
Bots like ChatGPT may not be able to pull off the next big Microsoft server worm or Colonial Pipeline ransomware super-infection but they may help criminal gangs and nation-state hackers develop some attacks against IT, according to Rob Joyce, director of the NSA's Cybersecurity Directorate. Joyce, speaking at CrowdStrike's Government Summit Tuesday, said he doesn't expect to see - at least not "In the near term" - AI used "For automated attacks that will rip through systems at speeds that are unfathomable today."
International Talk Like a Pirate Day is still months away - circle September 19th on your calendar, me hearties! - but The Register has found news of technology smuggling in China that suggests a buccaneering approach to imports. One incident, reported by Chinese media outlet MyDrivers, saw Chinese customs authorities notice a man wearing ill-fitting black clothing attempt to pass through Gongbei Port, the entry point from Macau to China.