United States Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) have issued an advisory to all telecom and network operators in the United States asking them to be vigilant against state sponsored cyber attacks from China.
A joint document released by CISA in conjugation with NSA and FBI states that companies operating in telecommunication and internet sector should be extra vigilant about a series of common vulnerabilities and exposures seen in network devices that can be exploited by threat actors.
CISA claims small office routers and IP cameras along with network attached storage (NAS) are all exposed to threats where hackers take control of the devices after compromising a network.
In its recent discovery, CISA discovered that Chinese threat actors were using some modified penetration tools and a few publicly available tools to break into corporate networks. They are also obscuring the entire hacking activity in such a way that it remains undetected by network security solutions after bypassing the defenses.
Replacing hardware and software that are approaching their end lives, keeping the security software updated, implementing centralized patch management program are some advisories issued by the agency.
The Department of Energy has been warned of being targeted by state sponsored hackers in the coming weeks, whose prime purpose to launch attacks is to create blackout.
