Dragon's Delight: Congress Cracked, Buses Bugged, & Typhoons Unleashed!

This is your Digital Dragon Watch: Weekly China Cyber Alert podcast.Ting here, your resident Digital Dragon Watch slayer, cutting through the firewalls and FUD to decode exactly what China’s cyber crews have been up to this week. No fluff, just serious Dragon drama.Let’s start with the biggest kicks—The Congressional Budget Office took a hit just days ago, and it’s sending tremors through DC. Why? Suspected Chinese state-backed hackers likely walked in through an unpatched Cisco ASA firewall, a trick straight out of the MITRE ATT&CK T1190 playbook. Think public-facing application vulnerabilities left wide open. The initial compromise may have leaked sensitive messages and budget analysis between offices—catnip for anyone interested in policy chess and trade secrets. CBO’s Caitlin Emma confirmed they responded fast: containment, enhanced monitoring, new security controls. But with the federal shutdown leaving CISA short-staffed for weeks, these attacks are a reminder: patch or perish. Tech analysts are clear—regular updates, network segmentation, and red-teaming are essential. Congress still hasn’t named names officially, but the TTPs scream ‘Chinese APT.’Meanwhile, Europe’s bus routes are the latest cyber battleground. Danish and British authorities, following Norway’s lead, are deep-diving into Chinese-made Yutong electric buses, which could in theory be remotely disabled by the manufacturer. Movia, Denmark’s biggest operator, is working with their emergency management agency to probe subsystems loaded with cameras, microphones, and GPS—prime targets for disruption if someone dials in from Zhengzhou. The UK’s Department for Transport teamed up with the National Cyber Security Centre, checking if remote updates and diagnostics mean Yutong could power down hundreds of buses at will. Yutong insists their access is encrypted, legal, and focused on maintenance—not sabotage. Still, governments aren’t just taking their word for it; they are beefing up procurement rules and demanding security audits before more buses roll out.Jumping to SharePoint, this summer saw Chinese groups Linen Typhoon, Violet Typhoon, and the notorious Storm-2603 using privilege escalation and zero-days—ones that actually leaked via Microsoft’s MAPP partner program. Storm-2603 even spiked the attack with ransomware, taking espionage into destruction territory. Dustin Childs and teams at Palo Alto Networks documented the attack’s evolution, while Microsoft, in response, yanked pre-release exploit code access from Chinese companies and shifted their vulnerability disclosure timing. CISA pushed urgent alerts: patch all SharePoint instances, use AMSI, and rotate ASP.NET machine keys. As for MAPP, it’s now invite-only for those proven to help, not harm.Salt Typhoon deserves its own badge of infamy. The US and FBI, along with global partners, sounded the alarm, branding their campaign a "national defense crisis." These guys target critical telecoms, transportation, and defense contractors—not subtle. Over 200 companies in 80 countries hit so far. Brett Leatherman at FBI says it best: defending against Salt Typhoon means aggressive hunting, collaboration, and shutting the door before the adversary even comes knocking. Expect more bounties, advisories, and joint takedowns.In short, China’s state-linked hackers are probing everything from congressional emails to your morning bus ride. The US government echoes experts: patch everything—especially Cisco, Microsoft, and Oracle products. Segment sensitive networks, deploy intrusion detection, and practice incident response as if Q from James Bond were your adversary. Security awareness training? Still mandatory. And remember, these attacks aren’t random noise—they are strategic, persistent, and evolving.That’s your Dragon Watch download for the week. Thank you for tuning in, listeners—subscribe if you want more encrypted analysis and less cyber smoke. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.For more http://www.quietplease.aiGet the best deals https://amzn.to/3ODvOtaThis content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI

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