Slashdot: Canadian Telecom Hacked By Suspected China State Group

Jun 23, 2025

—

Source URL: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/06/23/201237/canadian-telecom-hacked-by-suspected-china-state-group?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed
Source: Slashdot
Title: Canadian Telecom Hacked By Suspected China State Group

Feedly Summary:

AI Summary and Description: Yes

Summary: The text outlines a significant cyber attack on a Canadian telecommunications provider by hackers associated with the Chinese government, exploiting a critical vulnerability in Cisco devices. This incident underscores the importance of timely patch management in maintaining security and protecting against state-sponsored cyber threats.

Detailed Description: The reported cyber attack highlights crucial points pertinent to the fields of information security, infrastructure security, and overall cyber threat awareness.

Key points include:

– **Exploitation of Vulnerability**:
– Hackers took advantage of CVE-2023-20198, identified as a maximum-severity vulnerability (rated 10), which had been patched by Cisco 16 months prior to the attack.
– Devices affected include Cisco switches, routers, and wireless LAN controllers running iOS XE that had HTTP or HTTPS server features enabled and exposed to the Internet.

– **State-Sponsored Actor Identification**:
– The group involved, dubbed Salt Typhoon, is attributed to state-sponsored cyber operations on behalf of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
– This emphasizes the rising trend of state-sponsored cyber attacks targeting infrastructure and private sector organizations.

– **Response and Awareness**:
– The Cyber Centre of Canada, along with the FBI, issued statements acknowledging the malicious activities aimed at telecommunications companies.
– There is a growing awareness about the necessity for organizations to fortify defenses against such sophisticated and state-backed hacking endeavors.

– **Cybersecurity Implications**:
– The incident serves as a wake-up call for companies, particularly within critical infrastructure sectors, regarding the significance of regular updates and security patch implementations.
– It raises concerns over the vulnerabilities that can exist for extended periods and the risks they pose when organizations delay patching.

Overall, this text emphasizes the need for robust incident response protocols, proactive vulnerability management, and heightened vigilance against threats from state-sponsored entities. The implications could drive greater investment in cybersecurity measures and more stringent compliance requirements within affected industries.

01 1 10 2 3 5 7 a Act AI alt and art as ated attack attacks attribute aware awareness backed hacking Bi by C Canada CERN China Chinese Chinese government CI CIA Cisco Cisco devices co Col communication companies compliance compliance requirements concerns control controllers core critical critical infrastructure critical vulnerability CVE cyber cyber attack Cyber Attacks Cyber Operations cyber threat cyber threats cybersecurit Cybersecurity Cybersecurity Implications cybersecurity measures D de defense defenses device DoT drive e end exp exploit Exploitation eXtended FBI feature features for g Gen Go government Group H hack hacker hackers hacking high Highlight HR http HTTPS implementation implications in incident incident response incident response protocols information information security infrastructure infrastructure sector infrastructure security inter intern internet investment io iOS issue k Key l led Li Link long M malicious activities man management max measures N no non o of on operation operations organization organizations ory oS out over Patch Patch Management patching phi point private sector pro proactive proactive vulnerability management protocol protocols ps public Q R Raise rate RCE red regular updates report Requirements response Risk risks Ro RoT routers row s Salt Typhoon sec sector security security implications security measure security measures security patch server severity Sig size SoC source sponsored sponsored cyber operations sponsored cyber threats SSO state state-sponsored state-sponsored cyber attacks state-sponsored cyber threats T tech ted telecom telecommunications text the threat threat awareness threats Time to Tor TP trie UI under up update updates US V Vantage vigilance vulnerabilities vulnerability Vulnerability Management Ware Wi x