Oh, *Now* They Tell Us: China’s Been Snooping. Shocker.
Right, so the CISA, FBI and NSA – you know, the folks who are supposed to be watching this shit – have finally gotten around to admitting what anyone with half a brain figured out years ago: China’s been running a massive global espionage operation. Like, *really* massive. They’re calling it VOLT Typhoon. Groundbreaking name, honestly.
Apparently, they’ve been targeting critical infrastructure – power grids, water treatment facilities, communications networks… the stuff that keeps society from collapsing. And how are they doing it? Through a network of compromised small business routers and home office devices. Yeah, you read that right. Your cheap-ass router is probably part of their botnet. Don’t look at me, I didn’t build it.
They use custom malware (naturally) to hide their tracks and move laterally through networks like the professional hackers they are. The agencies are pushing out indicators of compromise (IOCs), but honestly? If you need *them* to tell you your network is compromised, you’re already screwed. Seriously, patch your systems, use strong passwords, and for the love of all that is holy, segment your networks! It’s not rocket science.
The worst part? They’ve been at it for *years*. Years! And now they’re issuing warnings like this is some new development. Fantastic work, team. Absolutely stellar. I swear, sometimes I think these agencies just enjoy letting things burn before pretending to care.
Basically, China’s stealing data and positioning themselves for potential disruption. It’s all very predictable and frankly, irritating. Go read the actual article if you want more details, but don’t expect any surprises.
Speaking of compromised routers, I once had to clean up a network where the owner thought changing the default password to “password123” was sufficient security. Suffice it to say, it wasn’t. The entire thing was running on a botnet before they even noticed their internet was slow. Some people just *want* to get hacked, I swear.
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