Dragon's Code: America Under Cyber Siege

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This is your Dragon's Code: America Under Cyber Siege podcast. Dragon's Code: America Under Cyber Siege is your go-to podcast for detailed analysis of the week's most sophisticated Chinese cyber operations targeting US infrastructure. Stay updated with expert insights into attack methodologies, affected systems, and compelling attribution evidence. Discover the defensive measures implemented and lessons learned from each incident. Featuring interviews with leading cybersecurity experts and government officials, Dragon's Code delivers essential information for anyone interested in the evolving landscape of cyber warfare and national security. Tune in regularly for in-depth discussions that keep you informed and prepared. For more info go to https://www.quietplease.ai Check out these deals https://amzn.to/48MZPjs

  1. قبل ٣١ دقيقة

    Salt Typhoon Strikes: China's Cyber Ninjas Unleash Epic Espionage Tsunami

    This is your Dragon's Code: America Under Cyber Siege podcast. Hey there, this is Ting, your China cyber whisperer, and if you thought this week was just about coffee runs and inbox zero, think again. The past few days have been absolute mayhem—Dragon’s Code in full effect, and that means the US is sweating like a data center with busted AC. Let me teleport you straight into the guts of what’s been going down in the cyber trenches. So, early last week, the Salt Typhoon group—these folks are basically the State Ministry of Security’s stealth ninjas—delivered the most disruptive, sophisticated campaign since they first popped up in 2019. According to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and a whole alphabet soup of allies including the UK’s NCSC, Australia’s ASD, and Germany’s BND, Salt Typhoon’s targets weren’t just the usual suspects. We’re talking AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, and a buffet of critical nodes in transportation, lodging, and even defense contractors. The goal? Espionage, sure, but also disruption, and the kind of data siphoning that could make black hats blush. Now, these aren’t smash-and-grab amateurs. Salt Typhoon’s playbook is persistence. They exploit known vulnerabilities (yes, your unpatched servers are on their menu), set up shop in obscure, often overlooked DNS records, and then turn those domains into covert data highways. It’s been months and in some cases years of quiet infiltration—think of them as digital sleeper agents, not flashy ransomware extortionists. The FBI even put up a $10 million bounty for intel on these guys, but so far, the only tip we’ve got is, thanks, but we’ll pass. Attribution might sound like spy pulp, but the evidence is mounting. Australian and US intelligence have traced command infrastructure directly back to the People’s Liberation Army and China’s Ministry of State Security. The scale is mind-bending—at least 200 companies in 80 countries, with millions of Aussies, Americans, and a whole UN roll call now realizing their data went on a field trip without permission. That’s not a data leak; that’s a data tsunami, and it’s washing up on every shore from Perth to Pennsylvania. Defensive measures? Well, the US just pushed the Wimwig Act through Congress, replacing the old Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act before its expiration next week. That means beefed-up legal protections for threat intel sharing, and clearer rules for tackling AI-powered cyber skirmishes. Companies are being told—no, begged—to go hunting through their DNS logs for signs of Salt Typhoon’s digital footprints. According to Brett Leatherman at the FBI’s Cyber Division, this isn’t just about patching servers; it’s about early detection and global collaboration. But here’s the thing that gives me pause, as someone who’s watched Dragon’s Code evolve from script kiddie antics to statecraft: Salt Typhoon isn’t just about stealing secrets. They’re testing the seams of global infrastructure, probing for weak points, and learning how much chaos they can sow without flipping the kill switch. The fact that this crew has likely gotten into systems most of us touch daily—our phones, travel bookings, even hospital networks—means this isn’t just a story for the IT crowd. It’s everyone’s story now. So, what’s the lesson here? According to Cynthia Kaiser, former FBI cyber policy chief and now at Halcyon Security, “We can’t protect you if we don’t hear from you.” That means faster, smarter reporting, sharing, and a whole lot less silo mentality. And for those of you in the C-suite, if you haven’t already, get your team to review not just the latest threats but the old, dusty logs—because Salt Typhoon’s been there, done that, and left a digital post-it. As for Beijing’s official line? Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lin Jian is all about “peaceful cyberspace,” but let’s be real: when 600GB of Great Firewall source code leaks, courtesy of Geedge Networks and MESA Lab, and China’s own cybersecurity regs mandate one-hour reporting for critical incidents, the message is clear: everybody’s playing both defense and offense. For now, stay sharp, patch often, and remember: in the cyber game, the only sure thing is that the next move is coming—and it might already be in your network. Thanks for tuning in. If you want more techno-realism from yours truly, hit that subscribe button. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai. For more http://www.quietplease.ai Get the best deals https://amzn.to/3ODvOta

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  2. قبل يوم واحد

    China's Cyber Siege: Hacking the Grid, Taunting in Mandarin, and Prepping for Taiwan Showdown

    This is your Dragon's Code: America Under Cyber Siege podcast. I’m Ting, your friendly and mildly caffeinated guide to all things China, cyber, and chaotic—think of me as the firewall between you and digital doom. Forget the boring intros. Let’s drop right into the breach—because Dragon’s Code: America Under Cyber Siege was *extra* spicy this week. Last Monday, security analysts at Google’s Threat Intelligence Group couldn’t believe their dashboard. They saw unmistakable fingerprints of Salt Typhoon—a code name used by the FBI for a notorious Chinese-linked hacking collective—worming its way through the US electric grid and water supply, and even poking the emergency alert infrastructure. Rich Andres from the National War College flagged for FOX 5 DC that Chinese-backed actors were in over 80 countries’ systems, but their *deepest* hooks seemed aimed at US critical infrastructure: power, water, comms, and, yes, the godlike network behind everyone’s favorite midnight meme delivery portal—telecoms. These guys weren’t just blasting ransomware or pulling off smash-and-grabs, either. This crew used supply chain infiltration, targeting software updates to inject their malware so it wouldn’t even blip traditional defenses. Remember the SolarWinds thing a few years ago? Picture that on caffeine, doing calculus, and moonwalking through encrypted channels. Attribution is always the million-bitcoin question in cyber, but this time, it wasn’t just code similarities or shared infrastructure—the attackers misused diplomatic IP blocks assigned to Chinese agencies, plus some clever taunting in Mandarin embedded in the code comments. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said, “Yup, it’s them again—probably PLA-affiliated.” Meanwhile, China’s government denied everything, then launched probes into US semiconductor companies like Texas Instruments for “anti-dumping,” essentially cyber-diplomacy in a trench coat. Did we panic? Not quite. Google’s new “disruption unit”—poised to actively take down live hostile operations—went into overdrive. The government dusted off never-before-used sections of the Scam Farms Marque and Reprisal Authorization Act, which, for you cyber-history buffs, reimagines ye olde letters of marque for hacking back at foreign adversaries. Picture private-sector white hats suddenly getting legal pirate hats. Sounds rad, but as Dick Wilkinson, CTO and legendary cyber-grouch, pointed out, wrangling government hackers is tricky enough—herding freelance infosec cats? Total cyber-madness. By Thursday, energy companies shared that all affected systems—yes, including the Northeast’s infamous “grid of patchwork and duct tape”—were purged, patched, and extra-segmented. Still, the lesson was painfully clear: China is digging digital tunnels not just for espionage, but to have “off switches” if the Taiwan question heats up. That’s not just a flex; it’s a real strategic lever. So what now? Experts urge constant red-teaming, more public-private info sharing, and, as Andres quipped, “disconnect your life-support systems from the cloud. Seriously.” For listeners, back up your data and stock bottled water. Not joking. Thanks for tuning in to Dragon’s Code! If you want to keep your digital dragon at bay, subscribe for more. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai. For more http://www.quietplease.ai Get the best deals https://amzn.to/3ODvOta

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  3. قبل ٣ أيام

    Salt Typhoon Snoops on Uncle Sam: China's Cyber Crew Caught Red-Handed!

    This is your Dragon's Code: America Under Cyber Siege podcast. Listeners, Ting here—resident cyber sleuth and all-around China watcher—coming at you with the wildest week in the world of digital dragons, aka Chinese cyber operations and the U.S. infrastructure they love to poke at. The headline? Salt Typhoon. Sounds poetic, right? Nothing poetic about it if you're running America's telecommunication networks or, say, keeping military comms out of prying hands. According to CYFIRMA’s latest weekly intelligence, Salt Typhoon swept up data from practically every American—yep, that means you, your grandma, even your ex. The operation blitzed through telecoms, government networks, transportation hubs, lodging chains, and some military systems. China may not have knocked out the lights, but they’ve inhaled details from systems essential to daily U.S. life. Now, let’s talk tradecraft. Salt Typhoon’s crew favors what the nerds call “living off the land” tactics—no exotic malware here, just hijacking trusted system admin tools. It’s like if someone broke into your house and rearranged your furniture using your own hands while you slept. On top of that, Chinese ops have gotten bolder with clever social engineering. During July’s trade talks, hackers masqueraded as the chair of the U.S. Congressional China committee, firing off emails with infected attachments to trade reps, lawyers, and government wonks. The malware? Classic APT41 signatures—the kind that give forensic analysts nightmares. Defensive measures were swift but sobering. The U.S. and Western allies tried the diplomatic equivalent of yelling “Stop!”—the joint “name-and-shame” statement last week. They publicly tied Salt Typhoon to Chinese tech companies with People’s Liberation Army and Ministry of State Security connections. On the ground, network admins everywhere are tightening up endpoint security, purging old admin credentials, and ramping up zero-trust verification. Over at CISA, Director Jennifer Easterly championed cross-industry info sharing. The upcoming WIMWIG Act will decide if that legal backbone for cybersecurity info swaps stands strong or gets axed. No industry wants to go solo against the PLA’s finest. What about attribution? Here, the evidence is not just server fingerprints—it’s geopolitics. Private sector analysts like Mandiant chime in, pointing out identical code reuse and attack infrastructure long tied to Chinese APTs. CYFIRMA notes the strategic shift: China is moving from straightforward economic theft to more overt sabotage prep. Case in point—Volty Typhoon, probing energy and transit networks for that “just in case” moment. But what do the wise folks say? CISA’s former chief Chris Krebs warns that until public-private teamwork is frictionless, adversaries will feast on soft American underbellies. Meanwhile, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reminded everyone this week that open societies face a trade-off—freedom comes with digital risk, and the fragmented cyber landscape is ripe for exploitation. Even as both sides, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi, hop onto video calls and try to keep things civil, the digital fight rages. Takeaways for the AI age: Don’t wait for Washington to save you. Update your software. Scrub those old user accounts. Report anomalies ASAP. And—pro tip—never open attachments from politicians, especially during trade talks! That’s the latest chapter of Dragon’s Code. Thanks for tuning in. Don’t forget to subscribe for more cyber intrigue. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai. For more http://www.quietplease.ai Get the best deals https://amzn.to/3ODvOta

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  4. قبل ٥ أيام

    Cyber Siege: China's Dragon Code Strikes Again! Telecom, Trade Talks, and Spicy Espionage

    This is your Dragon's Code: America Under Cyber Siege podcast. Picture this: it’s Wednesday, September 10th, and if you thought the only dragon terrorizing America was in fantasy novels—think again. This week, the Dragon’s Code is scrawled across America’s vulnerable cyber walls in Mandarin, and I’m Ting, your resident China cyber geek here to decode it fast. So grab a cup of coffee, extra strong—the flavor notes today are ransomware, wiretap hacks, and some spicy trade espionage. Let’s start with Salt Typhoon. You want sophistication? These folks—linked to China—pulled off what the Washington Post and Forbes describe as one of the "most egregious" breaches yet. Telecom giants like AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile got pinched, but the real jaw-dropper: intruders wriggled into the wiretap systems law enforcement uses to monitor suspects. That means attackers had their hands not only in metadata pots but right next to the surveillance machinery itself. Talk about audacious, huh? Security analyst Sean Cairncross called out China on this exact threat, alerting the Billington Cybersecurity Summit crowd that this is a whole new ballgame—hybrid ops now blend classic data theft with the power to disrupt, all while slipping past legacy defenses. But hold up—if you think it’s just telecom under siege, let me introduce you to another showstopper: the fake lawmaker cyber sting. Picture this: hackers masquerading as John Moolenaar, chair of the House Select Committee on China, zipped off malware-laden emails to trade officials, law firms, and even a foreign government just days before sensitive trade talks in Sweden. The caper’s signature tactics—improper cloud channel compromise, zero-day exploits, and living-off-the-land techniques—scream advanced persistent threats, with APT41 (one of China’s headline-hacking crews) fingered by analysts like those at Mandiant and Abnormal AI. The goal? Steal the blueprints, shift U.S. policy, and make Uncle Sam dance to Beijing’s cyber tune. Attribution is always a chess match, but as Ground News reports, the convergence of code, time zones, and infrastructure leaves even skeptical intelligence veterans admitting the evidence is—well—a dragon-shaped fingerprint. Still, as the former intelligence analyst warned, it’s probabilistic, not definitive, even if the signs read “Made in China.” Defensively, we’re seeing a pivot: National Cyber Director Sean Cairncross and NSC’s Alexei Bulazel dropped the passivity act, calling for a whole-of-nation strategy. That means bigger budgets, faster updates to old-school tech, prepping for quantum threats, and—yes—embracing offensive cyber moves to stop adversaries cold. The admin is pushing for tighter private sector ties and tougher incident intel sharing, especially with state and local leaders who, frankly, are tired of being the weakest link. Lessons from this cyber siege? Hybrid threat actors now escalate from snooping to sabotage. Supply chain and firmware vulnerabilities are juicy doorways; and, above all, sophisticated phishing and impersonation crush soft underbellies. Experts like Haiman Wong from the R Street Institute agree: coherent, resilient strategies and global partnerships are non-negotiable. America’s under siege, listeners, but the plot twists are coming. Be vigilant out there, and remember: in cyber, the dragon never sleeps, but neither do we. Thanks for tuning in—don’t forget to subscribe for more. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai. For more http://www.quietplease.ai Get the best deals https://amzn.to/3ODvOta

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  5. ٨ سبتمبر

    China's Hacking Bonanza: US Under Siege as Salt Typhoon & APT41 Run Amok in Cyber Espionage Frenzy!

    This is your Dragon's Code: America Under Cyber Siege podcast. Today’s episode of Dragon’s Code: America Under Cyber Siege drops you – yes, you, my favorite listener – headlong into what I can only call China’s golden age of hacking. Buckle up, because in the past few days, the American cyber landscape has been battered by the most sophisticated, relentless Chinese state-linked operations of the year. I’m Ting, your guide through all things espionage, clever code, and nation-state shenanigans. First up, there’s Salt Typhoon – the name alone sounds like a Chinese takeout special, but believe me, there’s nothing appetizing about it. According to the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Salt Typhoon is a Chinese state-sponsored threat group that’s notched up more than 200 high-profile hacks in 80 countries since 2019. The advisory this week upgraded their attacks to a national defense crisis. Why? Because Salt Typhoon has wormed into the backbone of US infrastructure: telecoms like AT&T and Verizon, government agencies, and even defense contractors. Their methodology? Ultra-stealth persistence, pilfering global web traffic, and embedding custom malware for long-term espionage. Oh, and for irony points – their infrastructure discovery included 45 fresh domains, only now spotted by threat intel teams. Talk about hiding in digital plain sight. Meanwhile, let’s talk about the Salt Typhoon sibling, APT41 – the hackers with a flair for espionage that puts James Bond villains to shame. Just days before those crucial US-China trade talks in Stockholm, the US discovered a malware-caked email campaign. The trick? The email pretended to be from Representative John Moolenaar, Chair of the House Select Committee grilling Beijing. It targeted law firms, trade groups, and diplomats, bearing “draft legislation” as an attachment. Open it, and boom – APT41 burrowed into sensitive systems, ready to swipe crucial negotiating insights. Moolenaar was blunt: “This is yet another example of the Chinese Communist Party using cyber operations to steal U.S. strategy and influence policy.” Nice effort, APT41, but the FBI and US Capitol Police have joined forces and are hot on your digital heels. Now, how about this week’s fresh exploit? CISA rang alarm bells on two active vulnerabilities in TP-Link routers, devices now all over American homes and small businesses. These flaws – CVE-2023-50224 and the new CVE-2025-9377 – let attackers steal credentials or run their own code remotely. Security icon Rob Joyce, formerly of the NSA, called out the suspicious surge in TP-Link’s US market share. Let me just say, when your router costs less than takeout, double-check who’s cooking your firmware. How is the good ol’ U.S. of A defending itself? Mitigation is running in overdrive: enterprise threat hunting, patching, segmenting networks, and boosting endpoint detection. States like Texas are pioneering special units focused on foreign cyber threats, ramping up education and reporting protocols. Cyber experts highlight the new normal: China’s blurring of public and private sector lines, embedding cyber operatives within legit enterprises, often outsourcing attack components to criminal syndicates for plausible deniability. Insiders warn: If we’re not vigilant, cheap technology may cost us everything. The week’s big lesson? Collaboration and proactive defense are the only ways to stay above water in this digital typhoon. So, thanks for tuning in to Dragon’s Code. Don’t forget to subscribe – you don’t want to be the only one missing out when the next wave hits. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai. For more http://www.quietplease.ai Get the best deals https://amzn.to/3ODvOta

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  6. ٧ سبتمبر

    China's Hacking Ninjas Strike Again: Phishing, Panda Tricks, and Password Panic!

    This is your Dragon's Code: America Under Cyber Siege podcast. Here’s Ting with your Dragon’s Code download, fresh from the front lines of the America-China cyber showdown. If you thought last week was a spicy dumpling, buckle up—because Chinese state-backed hackers have been busier than a CISO at password change day. First up: meet APT41, the digital ninjas working in the shadows for Chinese intelligence. They pulled off a classic phishing move—posing as Representative John Moolenaar just as the US and China were prepping for high-stakes trade talks. The hackers sent a convincing malware-laced email to US government agencies and trade groups, with the subject: “Your insights are essential.” Spoiler: opening that doc would have let the intruders rummage through government files like a raccoon in a trash bin. The Wall Street Journal revealed that security staff got suspicious when questions started flooding in about an email the Congressman never sent. The FBI and US Capitol Police are on the hunt, but the sophistication was clear—Mandiant analysts point to “draft legislation” as the bait, giving remote access and exfiltration capability. For listeners tracking attribution, all cyber breadcrumbs lead right back to Beijing. That’s not just Ting’s hot take—Google’s Threat Intelligence Group confirmed Chinese hackers, linked to the Mustang Panda crew, have been turbo-charging operations in the past week, combining hijacked web traffic, custom malware, and backdoors like SOGU.SEC, which is about as subtle as a neon panda on rollerblades. Microsoft weighed in, noting Chinese threat actors recently exploited unpatched SharePoint vulnerabilities, forcing the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to hit the panic button across critical infrastructure—think energy grids, transportation networks, and cloud providers. Let’s spotlight Salt Typhoon, a group that US, UK, Germany, and Japan have all called out for hoovering up American call records en masse. The Salt Typhoon story is wild—they compromised millions of Americans’ data, including some deep inside Washington leadership. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen addressed this head-on, promising more aggressive sanctions and collaboration with allies on real-time intelligence sharing. To mitigate such threats, red teams at Cloud9 and HackerStrike are now deploying AI-enhanced threat detection and running zero-trust architectures—which means everyone is suspicious until proven innocent, even the office goldfish. And hold your applause for the Czech Republic, whose cyber agency is now warning all their critical infrastructure shops: stay away from Chinese tech and cloud providers, or risk putting the entire country’s data up for grabs. Their latest bulletin says they’ve seen major APT31 campaigns—think military-grade phishing—hammering their Foreign Ministry and healthcare systems. Industry experts like Dakota Cary at the Atlantic Council say China’s hacking model is all about feeding industrial growth by operationalizing stolen technologies—a game the US is now aggressively countering through decoupling and supply chain fortification. The main lesson this week is: vigilance and layered defense, with executive orders pushing responsibility down to state and local governments. If you’re a sysadmin, it’s time to patch like you’ve never patched before. If you’re anyone else, change your passwords—and maybe lay off the free Wi-Fi. Thanks for tuning in to Dragon’s Code: America Under Cyber Siege. Hit subscribe, stay cyber-savvy, and remember—keep one eye on your inbox and the other on your firewall. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai. For more http://www.quietplease.ai Get the best deals https://amzn.to/3ODvOta

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  7. ٥ سبتمبر

    Hacked! China's Cyber Smackdown: Grid, Phones, POTUS Data—Game On!

    This is your Dragon's Code: America Under Cyber Siege podcast. Let’s cut straight to the chase—if you’ve been laser-focused on TikTok drama instead of network traffic, you might’ve missed what’s probably the biggest cyber headline of the year: Salt Typhoon and its partner in digital crime, Volt Typhoon. This week, Chinese cyber operatives have raised the stakes in America’s game of digital poker, laying bare not just their hand, but their intent to own the whole table. Imagine waking up and knowing Beijing’s hackers were waltzing through telecom networks, utility grids, hotel chains—even presidential communications. Not just an episode of Mr. Robot, but breaking news. I’m Ting, your friendly cyber oracle, here to decode the Dragon’s Code. Start with Salt Typhoon—described by US officials as China's most ambitious and aggressive cyberespionage to date. We’re talking years of sustained, coordinated attacks breaching not only American telecoms—think AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile—but also transportation and lodging networks. According to Cynthia Kaiser, who ran point at FBI cyber, this breach is so vast that it likely reached every US citizen, including President Trump and VP Vance. All those “private” calls, texts, and location records—now fodder for Chinese intelligence. It’s not just who called whom, but the ability to track dissidents, military officials, and activists worldwide. Salt Typhoon isn’t that clever malware in your spam folder—it’s all about taking over the backbone of global communications. But that’s Act One. Volt Typhoon took aim at Guam’s military, power, port, and water networks—operational tech, the nuts and bolts of American defense infrastructure. Their goal: to preposition inside systems so, should tensions escalate over Taiwan, they could flip a switch and black out critical assets. Jen Easterly at CISA warned Congress: “Volt Typhoon wants panic—they want our lights out and our defenders in the dark.” Meanwhile, Google’s cyber wizards traced the attack straight to Chinese companies: Sichuan Juxinhe Network Technology, Huanyu Tianqiong, Zhixin Ruijie—all feeding their digital muscle to units in the PLA and China’s Ministry of State Security. And get this—methodology was classic APT (advanced persistent threat) meets brute persistence. They didn’t just exploit zero-day vulnerabilities; they layered backdoors in network hardware, logged credentials, slipped quietly into law enforcement directives, and embedded destructive code in vital OT systems. Once discovered, these hackers didn’t hightail it. They dug in, daring defenders to kick them out. Even as their presence became public, they stayed, leveraging contractor firms that muddied the attribution waters. Defensive moves were swift: CISA, FBI, and western partners shouted global alerts, urging patching of known exploits, logging system events, and tightening network edge security. The Five Eyes and European allies teamed up in rare coordination. More than that, they pushed for a resilience-first mindset: the new gospel is “assume breach.” Rob Joyce, ex-NSA, told Congress this week, “Stop chasing pristine networks—focus on recovery, minimize disruption, limit adversarial movement.” Lessons? Complacency is fatal. Nation-state cyber threats aren’t a distant storm; they’re at our doorstep. Critical infrastructure has to inventory every asset—knowing every inch of your digital estate is non-negotiable. Public-private sharing is crucial; Congress is being urged to extend the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act so companies won’t get cold feet when passing along threat intel. So listeners, if you hear the phrase “just another hack,” remember—when the dragon comes for your data and your grid, ordinary isn’t in their vocabulary. Federal networks, water supplies, hotel chains—all are fair game. Thank you for tuning in—hit subscribe to get ahead of the attackers. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai. For more http://www.quietplease.ai Get the best deals https://amzn.to/3ODvOta

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  8. ٣ سبتمبر

    Chinese Cyber Ninjas Strike Again: Volt & Salt Typhoon Wreak Havoc on US Infrastructure

    This is your Dragon's Code: America Under Cyber Siege podcast. Listeners, Ting here—your cyber sleuth and code whisperer! Skip the drama, straight to the digital fireworks: in just the past week, the United States witnessed one of the most sophisticated flurries of Chinese cyber operations targeting infrastructure that I've ever had the mixed pleasure of dissecting. First off, the big baddies behind these latest attacks are names you now know by heart: Volt Typhoon and Salt Typhoon. In line with Beijing’s 14th Five-Year Plan—wrapping up this very year, mind you—these crews have been all about digging in discreetly rather than blowing things up. Their M.O.? Zero-day exploits—brand new vulnerabilities nobody else has patched yet—launched quietly into utility companies, telecom networks, and even state transportation hubs, making themselves nearly invisible. It’s like the cyber version of being a ninja squid, smearing ink, then slipping away. According to Microsoft, three distinct hacking clusters tied to China hammered away at on-premises SharePoint servers. These hackers didn’t just scrape data—they established long-term access, sometimes by creating admin-level backdoors right under IT’s nose. Then, they used lateral movement: think worming from one vulnerable device, like an edge router, right through to backbone routers and then deeper into organizations’ operational technology. They exploited common configuration weaknesses—default passwords, weak credential storage—then covered tracks using port mirroring and route manipulation. The result? Silent, privileged access to the digital control rooms of energy grids, telecom, and municipal services. Attribution for these ops gets sticky but is built on forensic breadcrumbs: command-and-control server logs, shared malware signatures linked to Salt Typhoon’s previous reconnaissance efforts, and overlapping infrastructure with historic PLA-backed campaigns, as reported by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Cyble, for one, cites global hits across telecom, government, and even unsuspecting universities. The response? A mad scramble. CISA, despite recent turbulence and staff losses following Director Tulsi Gabbard’s infamous ODNI downsizing, led a rapid-fire threat-sharing campaign. But with new resources under threat and state funding wobbly, as Rep. Andy Ogles pointed out this week, agencies at the local level are struggling to keep up. Some states, like Texas, are rolling out their own “hostile foreign adversary” units, but even NSA veteran Tony Sager doubts states can slug toe-to-toe with nation-state ops unless Uncle Sam seriously steps up. Defensive wins this week included mass password resets, emergency patching drives for core routers and SharePoint servers, and the use of secure AI-enhanced detection for anomaly spotting. But experts like Lauren Goldman—former CTIIC analysis chief—warn that state readiness remains uneven, especially as key intelligence programs face federal scalebacks at the worst imaginable moment. The lessons? Assume China is in your system and play like you're already compromised. Cyber pros urge holistic defense: tighter federal-state collaboration, fast intelligence sharing, and regular red-team drills simulating the latest TTPs. Above all—never, ever, use “cisco/cisco” as a password. Just don’t. Listeners, if you want your infrastructure to stay out of Dragon’s Code, vigilance isn’t a luxury—it’s your baseline. Thanks for tuning in! Don’t forget to subscribe, and remember: This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai. For more http://www.quietplease.ai Get the best deals https://amzn.to/3ODvOta

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This is your Dragon's Code: America Under Cyber Siege podcast. Dragon's Code: America Under Cyber Siege is your go-to podcast for detailed analysis of the week's most sophisticated Chinese cyber operations targeting US infrastructure. Stay updated with expert insights into attack methodologies, affected systems, and compelling attribution evidence. Discover the defensive measures implemented and lessons learned from each incident. Featuring interviews with leading cybersecurity experts and government officials, Dragon's Code delivers essential information for anyone interested in the evolving landscape of cyber warfare and national security. Tune in regularly for in-depth discussions that keep you informed and prepared. For more info go to https://www.quietplease.ai Check out these deals https://amzn.to/48MZPjs

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