• Thu. Oct 19th, 2023

Chinese Hackers are Targeting the Governments of Europe

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ByEsme Greene

Jul 25, 2023
Chinese hackers target European governments
Esme Greene
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Researchers at CheckPoint Research (CPR) who specialize in cyber threat intelligence have discovered a pattern of assaults by Chinese attackers. They now seem to be focusing on European governing bodies, mostly in Eastern Europe.

The SmugX hacking campaign has been going on since at least December 2022. It’s quite likely that it’s an expansion of an earlier effort launched by Chinese threat actors RedDelta and Mustang Panda.

What is Known About the Breaches

Diplomatic material was present in the majority of the compromised.docx and.pdf files utilized in the assault. A message from the Serbian embassy in Budapest, a document outlining the goals of the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the European Union, an invitation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Hungary to a diplomatic conference, and an article about two Chinese human rights lawyers who were given prison sentences of more than ten years were all obtained by researchers.

Hackers` Methods

Threat actors exploited HTML smuggling, a hacking method used by cybercriminals to deceive online security systems and get past their protections.  It includes concealing harmful code behind ostensibly secure HTML tags or components.

 
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Esme Greene

Esme brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to our website, specializing in all aspects of DarkWeb security. With a deep understanding of the intricate workings of the DarkWeb and its associated cybersecurity risks, Esme curates insightful and informative content for our readers.