CyberPulse: Cisco Firewalls Torched, Navy Adapts, TikTok's New Shackles—China's Digital Flex!

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

No time for long greetings, let’s pulse you right into the cyber action! Ting here, your go-to for decoding the US vs. China cyber chess match, and this week—let’s just say, every firewall on the block wishes it had called in sick.

So first, the big one: CISA, our Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, fired off an emergency directive after Cisco’s firewall devices—those digital fortresses guarding government secrets—got absolutely roasted by hackers in a campaign linked to China. These weren’t simple pranks—attackers using what Cisco calls the ArcaneDoor campaign dialed in through not one but two zero-days, disabling logs, intercepting commands, then crashing devices to leave forensics in the dark. The flaws—CVE-2025-20333 and CVE-2025-20362 for all you patch-happy listeners—were first seen back in May, but only just now has the emergency reached fever pitch. CISA gave federal agencies until Friday—yeah, this past Friday!—to hunt down and report compromised devices. Word is, these hackers buried themselves so deep the risks persist even after system reboots. Imagine your house being haunted—except it’s your government’s firewall, and the ghosts might be exfiltrating sensitive data instead of moving your furniture. Chris Butera at CISA says, and I quote, “the threat is widespread.” British and U.S. agencies are sounding the alarm: patch, mitigate, hunt—then maybe patch again for good measure.

The military’s also switching gears. Hot off the new fiscal year, the Defense Department tossed out their old Risk Management Framework and switched to a Cybersecurity Risk Management Construct, or CSRMC, which is all about DevSecOps—continuous monitoring, faster patching, and resilience that vibes with next-gen tech. The idea: no more sitting ducks waiting for compliance—think security baked into every slice of code. Admiral Daryl Caudle, the new Navy Chief, is calling for the fleet to modernize, keep systems modular, and double-down on defending communication architecture. His big focus is on countering China’s C4ISR—that’s their eyes-and-ears: Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance. With China’s so-called “Brickstorm” and Storm-2077 espionage ops in play, it’s all about targeting the sensors and command links that let the PLA launch their missile salvos. Caudle wants the Navy practicing in degraded, contested networks, and ramping up electronic warfare.

Now, private sector: Apple patched an ASLR bypass, SonicWall VPNs are under siege despite multi-factor authentication, and TikTok—yep, that TikTok—just got partly reacquired with new US oversight under Oracle. If Oracle and the new security partners police things right, this may become the toughest set of digital guardrails a social app has ever seen.

On the international stage, while everyone’s playing defense, the China-Africa Digital Forum in Xiamen flexed Beijing’s ambitions for global cyber standards and digital economy leadership. China’s launching new training courses and digital governance projects with African partners—meaning we’re not just talking tech wars on US soil; this is a multiplayer global server.

Next week? Expect more on quantum cryptography and AI threats—because staying static is not an option. Thanks for tuning in to US-China CyberPulse—where your firewall’s panic is my passion. Hit subscribe, and don’t forget: This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.

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