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Chinese cyber threat: Dragon is targeting Indian telecom and defence

WION Web Team
NEW DELHIEdited By: Nikhil PandeyUpdated: Jun 18, 2021, 07:02 PM IST
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Bronze President aka Mustang Panda is behind the cyberattacks Photograph:(Others)

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On Thursday, Recorded Future, the world's largest provider of enterprise security intelligence, disclosed cyber espionage activity linked to a suspected Chinese state-sponsored threat activity organisation known as RedFoxtrot. This was revealed in a report by Recorded Future's threat research subsidiary Insikt Group. 

Today's wars are fought in cyberspace rather than on the battlefield. Malware serves as ammunition, hackers and cybersecurity specialists serve as soldiers, and the battle is for data. 

According to the latest research from an American cybersecurity firm, a Chinese state-backed hacker group is targeting Indian defence research and other Indian organisations.

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On Thursday, Recorded Future, the world's largest provider of enterprise security intelligence, disclosed cyber espionage activity linked to a suspected Chinese state-sponsored threat activity organisation known as RedFoxtrot. This was revealed by Recorded Future's threat research subsidiary Insikt Group. 

RedFoxtrot has been active in India since 2014, primarily targeting aerospace and defence, government, telecommunications, mining, and research firms.

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Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan are the other nations, all of its operations fall under the operational remit of PLA Unit 69010. 

Recorded Future`s large-scale, automated network traffic analytics and expert analysis detected intrusions targeting sectors across bordering Asian countries.

RedFoxtrot activity overlaps with threat groups tracked by other security vendors such as Temp. Trident and Nomad Panda.

It is assessed with high confidence that RedFoxtrot is a Chinese state-sponsored threat activity group based on identified links to a specific PLA unit and the use of shared custom capabilities considered unique to Chinese cyberespionage groups.

"The recent activity of the People`s Liberation Army has largely been a black box for the intelligence community. Being able to provide this rare end-to-end glimpse into PLA activity and Chinese military tactics and motivations provides invaluable insight into the global threat landscape. The persistent and pervasive monitoring and collection of intelligence is crucial in order to disrupt adversaries and inform an organization or government`s security posture", said Christopher Ahlberg, CEO and Co-Founder, Recorded Future. 

(With inputs from agencies)

Nikhil Pandey

Nikhil Pandey is TEAM LEAD - DIGITAL CONTENT with WION. He follows politics, sports and entertainment.He tweets at @Nikhil_Pandey04.