This is your US-China CyberPulse: Defense Updates podcast.

You are now tuned in to CyberPulse with Ting, your guide to the wild world where US cyber defense meets China's latest digital maneuvers. Friends, this week, let’s just say Uncle Sam’s firewall gloves are off and the cat-and-mouse game has gone pretty next level.

If you missed the latest from Google’s Threat Intelligence Group, listen up—Chinese-government-linked operatives, especially a crew known as UNC5221, have gone all Mission Impossible on US technology firms, legal-services outfits, and SaaS providers. Their weapon of choice is the BRICKSTORM backdoor, which, let’s be honest, sounds more like a Pokémon move than a cyber threat, but don’t be fooled. This malware has kept them lurking in networks for over a year, sniffing out trade secrets, national security tidbits, and, get this, the source code for enterprise tech. The goal? Find those zero-days, open pathways for future attacks, and then tailgate their way onto customer systems faster than a rookie at Black Hat Las Vegas.

Now, US defensive strategy isn't sitting still. Washington is doubling down on the intelligence community’s role in policing export controls, especially for cutting-edge AI chips. Lawfare Institute reports the push is to shift away from a passive, catch-the-baddies-after-the-fact model and move into proactive, continuous monitoring of where those hot Nvidia Blackwell chips are actually being used—and, crucially, by whom. There is talk of embedding US intelligence officers right alongside Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security teams, turning the old-school desk jockey export checking into something between Mission Control and a CSI lab. Have something to hide? You’re going to have a bad time.

Let’s talk private sector. US firms are getting the memo that nation-state risks are not someone else’s problem. Think beefed-up supply chain audits, more zero trust frameworks—picture every employee being treated as a potential double agent—and adoption of new privacy-preserving tools that can monitor chip and software usage without peeking into proprietary secrets. Even SaaS vendors are on alert, since they’re now juicy targets not just for their own data but for anything juicy their customers store.

We can’t ignore the global chessboard here. The US is leaning heavily into intelligence sharing with allies—especially Five Eyes partners, but now weaving in powerhouse semiconductor allies like Japan, South Korea, and the Netherlands. The idea? Choke off Chinese access to high-end chipmaking gear and stay one step ahead in the AI arms race. If you’re picturing spy swaps in Zurich, just think more encrypted Slack channels and a lot of late-night policy calls.

But here’s the kicker: as much as the Biden administration flexes new directives like Executive Order 14303—wrangling research partnerships and insisting on transparent, bias-free science—the real race is making sure the legal guardrails keep up. Agencies are getting grilled over fragmented oversight and the tension between promoting exports and locking down tech that could feed China’s civil-military fusion machine.

And yes, in case you forgot, Chinese groups like RedNovember are branching out, hitting everything from US defense contractors to government agencies in Europe and Asia. If your firm hasn’t had a serious “assume we’re breached” board meeting lately, you might want to pencil that in.

That’s your CyberPulse briefing—thanks for tuning in! Subscribe for your weekly shot of cyber-smarts. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.

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