China Hack Report: Daily US Tech Defense

China Admits Grid Hack, US Vows Vengeance: Cyber Bombs Away!


Listen Later

This is your China Hack Report: Daily US Tech Defense podcast.

*Ting here, your friendly neighborhood cyber detective. Buckle up for today's China Hack Report - it's been a spicy 24 hours in the digital trenches!*

Good evening tech warriors! Today's May 15th, 2025, and Chinese cyber threats are dominating headlines after taking center stage at yesterday's Department of Homeland Security budget hearing for 2026. Lawmakers are sounding serious alarm bells over escalating threats from Beijing's digital warriors.

The big bombshell dropped this afternoon at RSA 2025 in San Francisco where Alexei Bulazel, Senior Director for Cyber at the National Security Council, delivered what I'm calling the cyber equivalent of a boxing glove to the face. His message to China? "If you come and do this to us, we'll punch back." Talk about drawing a line in the digital sand! This marks a major policy shift from previous administrations that Bulazel described as "hesitant" to retaliate against infrastructure attacks.

Let's decode what's happening: The White House is specifically calling out two Chinese APT groups - Volt Typhoon and Salt Typhoon - for infiltrating critical infrastructure networks in energy and water sectors. What's particularly concerning is that Volt Typhoon managed to lurk inside our electric grid for a whopping 300 days last year. That's almost a full year of undetected access!

Here's the juicy intel you won't hear everywhere: According to a Wall Street Journal report from last month, Chinese officials actually admitted to the Volt Typhoon attacks during a secret Geneva meeting last December. The admission reportedly stunned American officials present, who interpreted it as China's way of warning the US against supporting Taiwan in a potential conflict.

The Treasury Department isn't being spared either. They suffered a state-sponsored cyberattack in early December targeting the Office of Foreign Assets Control and the Office of the Treasury Secretary - both entities that sanctioned Chinese companies in 2024.

CISA is recommending immediate patching of all systems, especially those using known vulnerable software, implementing multi-factor authentication across all networks, and segmenting critical operational technology from internet-facing systems.

The Justice Department has been busy too, charging 12 Chinese contract hackers and law enforcement officers back in March for global computer intrusion campaigns.

Bottom line: China's cyber strategy appears to be a one-two punch - gathering intelligence while simultaneously preparing disruptive capabilities for potential future conflicts. As we head into the weekend, keep those systems updated, those networks segmented, and remember - in cyberspace, what you don't see CAN hurt you. This is Ting, signing off until tomorrow's digital battlefield report!

For more http://www.quietplease.ai


Get the best deals https://amzn.to/3ODvOta
...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

China Hack Report: Daily US Tech DefenseBy Quiet. Please