May 23, 2024 at 07:36AM
Chinese APT group targets governmental entities in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia in cyber espionage campaign dubbed Operation Diplomatic Specter since late 2022. Palo Alto Networks researchers found long-term espionage operations and rare email exfiltration techniques. The attacks include diplomatic and economic missions, embassies, military operations, political meetings, and ministries. The threat actor closely monitors geopolitical developments and exfiltrates sensitive information.
Key Takeaways from the Meeting Notes:
– A Chinese advanced persistent threat (APT) group is conducting cyber espionage activities known as Operation Diplomatic Specter targeting governmental entities in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia since at least late 2022.
– The threat actor is focused on intelligence collection efforts and has targeted diplomatic and economic missions, embassies, military operations, political meetings, and ministries of targeted countries.
– The group has been using rare email exfiltration techniques against compromised servers and has been involved in espionage campaigns orchestrated by Beijing government hackers.
– The threat actor closely monitors contemporary geopolitical developments and attempts to exfiltrate information daily by infiltrating and searching targets’ mail servers for specific keywords and sensitive information.
– Operational infrastructure and tools used in the attacks point to the involvement of Chinese state-aligned interests in these cyber espionage activities.
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