Chinese State's Zero Day Espionage Weapon of Choice
Insikt Group Highlight State-Sponsored Favorite Exploit Tools
Overt Operator
November 18, 2023
China's government has significantly improved its ability to exploit zero-day vulnerabilities for espionage purposes over the past five years, posing a persistent threat to organizations worldwide.
Recent reports indicate that Chinese nation-state actors are increasingly targeting public-facing devices, particularly edge appliances, to exploit novel vulnerabilities.
According to a study conducted by the Insikt Group, the threat intelligence research arm of Recorded Future, approximately 85 percent of known zero-day vulnerabilities exploited by Chinese state-sponsored groups since 2021 have focused on public-facing appliances. These include firewalls, enterprise VPNs, hypervisors, load balancers, and email security tools. This alarming trend highlights the need for heightened security measures to protect against these attacks.
Insikt suggests that China's success in exploiting zero-day vulnerabilities is facilitated by a robust threat sharing and support apparatus. The sharing of malware and exploit capabilities among Chinese state-sponsored actors is likely enabled by both upstream capability developers and domestic policies surrounding software vulnerability discovery and weaponization.
As a result of these tactics, China has become a more elusive adversary, making it increasingly challenging to defend against their cyber-espionage activities. The report emphasizes that many of the targeted devices and appliances have limited visibility, logging capabilities, and compatibility with traditional security solutions. Organizations are urged to consider these factors when procuring network appliances to enhance their ability to detect and respond to threats effectively.
Mark Kelly, principal threat intelligence analyst at Recorded Future, highlights the importance of a proactive approach for Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs). Beyond preventing threat actors from gaining initial access, it is crucial to focus on establishing robust detection and response mechanisms. This approach will ensure that organizations can effectively combat potential breaches and mitigate the impact of cyber-attacks.
China's government has honed its ability to exploit zero-day vulnerabilities, presenting an ongoing and significant threat to organizations worldwide. By targeting public-facing devices, particularly edge appliances, Chinese nation-state actors have increased their stealthiness and made defense more challenging. Organizations must prioritize the selection of network appliances with enhanced security features and invest in robust threat detection and response capabilities to counter these evolving cyber threats effectively.