China's cyber intrusions took a sinister turn in 2024
www.theregister.com

... The Chinese government's intrusions into America's telecommunications and other critical infrastructure networks this year appears to signal a shift from cyberspying as usual to prepping for destructive attacks.

The FBI and other US federal agencies rang in 2024 boasting about disrupting a Chinese botnet composed of "hundreds" of outdated routers intent on breaking into US critical infrastructure facilities. Spoiler alert: the botnet is back.

This same government-backed crew also compromised at least one large US city's emergency services network, and has been conducting reconnaissance and enumeration of "multiple" American electric companies since early 2023.

Soon after these intrusions came to light, the Feds began issuing very public alerts that Volt Typhoon was preparing to "wreak havoc" on American infrastructure and "cause societal chaos" in the US.

"Volt Typhoon's choice of targets and pattern of behavior is not consistent with traditional cyber espionage or intelligence gathering operations, and the US authoring agencies assess with high confidence that Volt Typhoon actors are pre-positioning themselves on IT networks to enable lateral movement to OT assets to disrupt functions," the government agencies warned.

The public learned later in the year that another Beijing hacking unit, this one called Salt Typhoon, had broken into American telecommunications networks in what one senior US senator called the "worst telecom hack in our nation's history - by far." ...

Senate Releases Final Report On Russia's Interference In 2016 Election
www.npr.org

... A GOP-led Senate panel released a report Tuesday that details extensive contacts between Trump campaign advisers and Russian intelligence in 2016. ...