Chinese Hackers Targeting Air-gapped Systems In Eastern Europe

A new strain of malware, believed to be orchestrated by Chinese state-sponsored hackers, has emerged, targeting industrial organizations. This sophisticated malware is designed to extract data from air-gapped systems. Air-gapped systems play crucial roles and are deliberately isolated from both enterprise networks and the public internet, using physical barriers or a combination of software and network devices. The discovery of this new malware was made by researchers from the cybersecurity company, Kaspersky. They have attributed the cyber-espionage campaign to APT31, also known as Zirconium. The attack involved the use of at least 15 distinct implants during various stages of the operation in Eastern Europe. Furthermore, the hackers utilized their trademark 'FourteenHi' malware family in the course of their activities. Read more...