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CHINA'S CYBERATTACKERS MANEUVER TO DISRUPT US CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE

Volt Typhoon is positioning itself to physically disrupt and cripple US critical
infrastructure by gaining access to operational technology networks in the
energy, water, communications, and transportation sectors, according to CISA.

Tara Seals, Managing Editor, News, Dark Reading

February 8, 2024

3 Min Read
Source: NASA Goddard


The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has issued a
report detailing how the China-backed Volt Typhoon advanced persistent threat
(APT) is consistently targeting highly sensitive critical infrastructure, with
new information on the cyberattackers' pivot to operational technology (OT)
networks once they've burrowed inside.

Given that the OT network is responsible for the physical functions of
industrial control systems (ICS) and supervisory control and data acquisition
(SCADA) equipment, the findings clearly corroborate the ongoing suspicion that
Chinese hackers are looking to be able to disrupt critical physical operations
in energy, water utilities, communications, and transportation, presumably to
cause panic and discord in the event of a kinetic conflagration between the US
and China.



"Volt Typhoon actors are pre-positioning themselves on IT networks to enable
lateral movement to OT assets to disrupt functions," according to CISA's Volt
Typhoon advisory. [We] "are concerned about the potential for these actors to
use their network access for disruptive effects in the event of potential
geopolitical tensions and/or military conflicts."



It's an important set of revelations, according to John Hultquist, chief analyst
at Mandiant Intelligence/Google Cloud.

"Previously, we could deduce from targeting that the actor had a strong interest
in critical infrastructure that had little intelligence value," he said in an
emailed analysis. But the CISA report shows that "Volt Typhoon is gathering
information on, and even penetrating, OT systems — the highly sensitive systems
that run the physical processes at the heart of critical infrastructure," he
added. "Under the right conditions, OT systems could be manipulated to cause
major shutdowns of essential services, or even to create dangerous conditions."



Hultquist added, "If there was any skepticism as to why this actor is carrying
out these intrusions, this revelation should put it to rest."


LIVING OFF THE LAND & HIDING FOR 5 YEARS

CISA also revealed today that Volt Typhoon (aka Vanguard Panda, Bronze
Silhouette, Dev-0391, UNC3236, Voltzite, and Insidious Taurus) has secretly
hidden in US infrastructure for half a decade — even though they were first
publicly outed by Microsoft only last year.



"Unlike ransomware operators whose goal is to get in and cause damage quickly,
this nation-state operator is leveraging valid accounts and 'living off the
land' [LOTL] techniques to evade detection for long periods of time," Ken
Westin, field CISO at Panther Lab, said in an emailed comment. "These methods
allow the group to monitor their targets and provide a foothold to cause kinetic
damage."

To boot, the APT "also relies on valid accounts and leverage[s] strong
operational security, which ... allows for long-term undiscovered persistence,"
CISA explained. "Volt Typhoon actors conduct extensive pre-exploitation
reconnaissance to learn about the target organization and its environment;
tailor their tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) to the victim's
environment; and dedicate ongoing resources to maintaining persistence and
understanding the target environment over time, even after initial compromise."

While Volt Typhoon's strategy of staying hidden by using legitimate utilities
and blending in with normal traffic isn't a new phenomenon in cybercrime, it
does make it difficult for potential targets to actively scan for malicious
activity, according to CISA, which issued extensive LOTL guidance today for
doing just that.



Meanwhile, an infrastructure update, while it could in some cases require a
costly and labor-intensive forklift replacement, might not go awry either.

"Many of the OT environments being targeted are notorious for running outdated
software, either out of negligence or necessity, if the systems cannot be
updated, which increases the risk posed by this threat," Westin said.

Worryingly, CISA also noted that the danger extends beyond the US. Last month,
SecurityScorecard's STRIKE team identified new infrastructure linked to Volt
Typhoon that indicated the APT was also targeting Australian and UK government
assets. The CISA report broadens that risk to also include Canada and New
Zealand — all of these US partners' infrastructure is also susceptible to
nation-state actors, it warned.

CISA's advisory comes on the heels of a government action to disrupt the group's
small office/home office (SOHO) router botnet, which it used to throw off those
tracking its activity.




ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S)

Tara Seals, Managing Editor, News, Dark Reading



Tara Seals has 20+ years of experience as a journalist, analyst and editor in
the cybersecurity, communications and technology space. Prior to Dark Reading,
Tara was Editor in Chief at Threatpost, and prior to that, the North American
news lead for Infosecurity Magazine. She also spent 13 years working for Informa
(formerly Virgo Publishing), as executive editor and editor-in-chief at
publications focused on both the service provider and the enterprise arenas. A
Texas native, she holds a B.A. from Columbia University, lives in Western
Massachusetts with her family and is on a never-ending quest for good Mexican
food in the Northeast.


See more from Tara Seals, Managing Editor, News, Dark Reading
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