ShadowSilk Intrusions Targeting Central Asia and APAC Governments

APT41, a China-linked threat group, has been conducting targeted phishing campaigns against U.S. trade officials, law firms, think tanks, and academic organizations. The attacks, impersonating U.S. officials and organizations, aim to steal sensitive data related to U.S.-China trade negotiations. The campaigns have been ongoing since at least January 2025, with a surge in activity observed in July and August 2025. The U.S. House Select Committee on China has issued a formal advisory warning about these activities, linking them to a Beijing-led effort to influence policy deliberations. The FBI is investigating these attacks. The phishing emails impersonate U.S. officials, including Rep. John Robert Moolenaar, and organizations such as the U.S.-China Business Council, to trick recipients into opening malicious attachments or links. The attacks exploit software and cloud services to evade detection and exfiltrate data. The goal is to gain an advantage in trade and foreign policy negotiations. The Chinese embassy has denied the allegations, stating that China opposes cyber attacks and cyber crime. APT41 has been linked to various sophisticated campaigns targeting multiple sectors, including logistics, utility companies, healthcare, high-tech, and telecommunications.

Chinese state-sponsored Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) actors, specifically the Salt Typhoon group and a newly identified group named RedNovember, have been conducting sustained campaigns to compromise critical infrastructure networks worldwide. The campaigns aim to gain long-term access to telecommunications, government, transportation, lodging, and military networks. This activity has been detailed in a joint advisory by CISA, NSA, FBI, and international partners, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, and Spain. The advisory provides intelligence on tactics used by these actors and recommends mitigations to strengthen defenses. The Czech Republic's National Cyber and Information Security Agency (NUKIB) has issued a warning instructing critical infrastructure organizations to avoid using Chinese technology or transferring user data to servers located in China. The agency has re-evaluated its risk estimate of significant disruptions caused by China, now assessing it at a 'High' level. The NUKIB has confirmed malicious activities of Chinese cyber-actors targeting the Czech Republic, including a recent APT31 campaign targeting the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The advisory highlights concerns over the transfer of system and user data to China, potentially misused by state, military, or political interests. The Czech government previously accused China of targeting its critical infrastructure through APT 31, an allegation denied by the PRC but condemned by the US, EU, and NATO. The advisory suggests that individuals and organizations consider restricting or prohibiting the use of products and services that transfer data to China. The campaign has targeted at least 600 organizations across 80 countries, including 200 in the U.S. The threat actors have exploited vulnerabilities in Cisco, Ivanti, and Palo Alto Networks devices to gain initial access and have modified routers to maintain persistent access and pivot into other networks. The advisory also notes that the APT actors may target other devices such as Fortinet firewalls, Juniper firewalls, Microsoft Exchange, Nokia routers and switches, Sierra Wireless devices, Sonicwall firewalls, etc. RedNovember has targeted perimeter appliances of high-profile organizations globally, including defense and aerospace organizations, space organizations, and law firms. The group has breached at least two U.S. defense contractors, a European engine manufacturer, and a trade-focused intergovernmental cooperation body in Southeast Asia. RedNovember has used the Go-based backdoor Pantegana and Cobalt Strike as part of its intrusions, along with the Spark RAT and LESLIELOADER. The group has also used VPN services like ExpressVPN and Warp VPN to administer and connect to servers used for exploitation and communication.

North Korean state actors have been using fake or stolen identities to secure IT jobs in various companies, particularly in the blockchain and technology sectors. These actors have stolen virtual currency and funneled money to North Korea's weapons program. The practice has escalated with the rise of remote work and AI, enabling fraudsters to impersonate employees and gain privileged access to company networks. Thousands of North Korean IT workers have infiltrated the job market over the past two years, exploiting vulnerabilities in hiring processes and remote work environments. Over 320 cases of North Korean operatives infiltrating companies by posing as remote IT workers were identified in August 2025. The Justice Department has shut down several laptop farms used by these actors, but the problem persists, with security experts warning of significant security risks and financial losses for affected companies. The U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has recently sanctioned two individuals and two entities for their role in these schemes, identifying financial transfers worth nearly $600,000 and over $1 million in profits generated since 2021. Japan, South Korea, and the United States are collaborating to combat North Korean IT worker schemes. The three countries held a joint forum on August 26, 2025, in Tokyo to improve collaboration, with both Japan and South Korea issuing updated advisories on the threat. The United States sanctioned four entities for their roles in the IT worker fraud schemes, accusing them of working to help the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to generate revenue.

Iranian state-sponsored or affiliated cyber threat actors are actively targeting U.S. critical infrastructure and conducting global phishing campaigns against diplomatic entities. These actors exploit known vulnerabilities in unpatched or outdated software, compromise internet-connected accounts and devices with weak passwords, and collaborate with ransomware groups to encrypt, steal, and leak sensitive information. A recent coordinated multi-wave spear-phishing campaign targeted embassies and consulates globally, using compromised email accounts to deploy malware. The campaign, attributed to Iranian-aligned operators connected to Homeland Justice, involved sending spear-phishing emails disguised as legitimate diplomatic communications to deploy malware via VBA macros. The phishing emails were sent from 104 unique compromised addresses, including a hacked mailbox from the Oman Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The targeted regions included the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Americas, with a focus on European embassies and African organizations. The campaign is assessed to have likely concluded just days after it began, as the attackers' command-and-control (C2) infrastructure appears to be inactive. In addition, Iranian state-sponsored threat actors, known as Subtle Snail, have conducted a new campaign targeting European telecommunications companies, successfully infiltrating 34 devices across 11 organizations. This group, also known as UNC1549, operates by posing as HR representatives from legitimate entities to engage employees and then compromises them through the deployment of a MINIBIKE backdoor variant. The targeted companies are located in Canada, France, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The group's primary motivation involves infiltrating telecommunications entities while maintaining interest in aerospace and defense organizations to establish long-term persistence and exfiltrate sensitive data for strategic espionage purposes. The attacks involve extensive reconnaissance on platforms like LinkedIn to identify key personnel within target organizations, specifically focusing on researchers, developers, and IT administrators with elevated access to critical systems and developer environments. The campaign is characterized by the meticulous efforts of Subtle Snail operators to tailor the attack for each victim, using job-themed lures and spear-phishing emails to validate email addresses and collect additional information. The malware used in the campaign includes a web browser stealer that incorporates a publicly available tool called Chrome-App-Bound-Encryption-Decryption to bypass app-bound encryption protections rolled out by Google. MINIBIKE is a fully-featured, modular backdoor with support for 12 distinct commands to facilitate C2 communication, allowing it to enumerate files and directories, list running processes, terminate specific ones, upload files in chunks, and run various payloads. The malware makes Windows Registry modifications such that it's automatically loaded after system startup and features anti-debugging and anti-sandbox techniques to hinder analysis. The group uses predefined paths to guide their searches and focus on stealing emails, VPN configurations, and other information that helps them maintain control, as well as hunting for confidential files stored in shared folders. Furthermore, the Iran-linked cyber-espionage group Nimbus Manticore, also known as UNC1549 and Smoke Sandstorm, has expanded its operations to target critical infrastructure organizations across Western Europe, including Denmark, Portugal, and Sweden. The group uses sophisticated malware variants, including MiniJunk and MiniBrowse, to gain persistent access to infected systems and steal credentials from Chrome and Edge browsers. MiniJunk is an advanced version of the Minibike backdoor, featuring improved obfuscation techniques, code signing, and multiple C2 servers to evade detection. The malware employs multi-stage sideloading to install and establish persistence on victim systems, leveraging fake job-related login pages and tailored spear-phishing emails. Nimbus Manticore has been active since at least 2022, targeting aerospace and defense sectors in Israel and the Middle East, and is associated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). There is currently no indication of a coordinated campaign specifically targeting U.S. critical infrastructure, but U.S. agencies are urging vigilance and proactive defense measures.