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Meet the Chinese ‘Typhoon’ hackers preparing for war


Dubbed Volt, Flax and Salt Typhoon, U.S. intelligence says these China-backed hackers are laying the groundwork for future conflict.

Microsoft first identified Volt Typhoon in May 2023, finding that the hackers had targeted and compromised network equipment, such as routers, firewalls, and VPNs, since at least mid-2021 as part of an ongoing and concerted effort to infiltrate deep into the systems of U.S. critical infrastructure. The hacking group subsequently gained further access to the IT environments of multiple critical infrastructure sectors, including aviation, water, energy, and transportation, pre-positioning for activating future disruptive cyberattacks aimed at slowing the U.S. government’s response to an invasion of its key ally, Taiwan. The U.S. government said in January 2024 that it had successfully disrupted a botnet, used by Volt Typhoon, consisting of thousands of hijacked U.S.-based small office and home network routers, which the Chinese hacking group used to hide its malicious activity aimed at targeting U.S. critical infrastructure.

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