Purple Haze Recon Blitz: SentinelOne Probed, 70 Orgs Hit! | Salt Typhoon Spies Pwn Telecom, Snoop VIP Voicemails

This is your Digital Frontline: Daily China Cyber Intel podcast.

Hey cyber sleuths, Ting here with your Digital Frontline: Daily China Cyber Intel for July 8, 2025. Buckle up—today’s threat radar is blinking bright, with Chinese cyber actors stepping up their game and putting US interests squarely in the crosshairs.

Let’s get into it. Overnight, actionable intelligence flagged continuing activity from not one, but two major threat clusters: PurpleHaze and Salt Typhoon. Remember PurpleHaze? That’s the group with ties to China’s infamous APT15 and UNC5174. Well, according to SentinelOne’s forensic crew—big shoutout to Aleksandar Milenkoski and Tom Hegel—they’ve confirmed that these actors didn’t just try probing cybersecurity powerhouse SentinelOne; they expanded operations to over 70 organizations globally. Sectors spanned from energy, manufacturing, finance, and telecom to government and research. Even an IT services vendor managing SentinelOne’s hardware logistics was compromised in early 2025. The initial phase looks like reconnaissance—think digital mapmaking and identifying what’s ripe for picking. But knowing PurpleHaze, this is them setting the chessboard for bigger moves.

Now, let’s talk Salt Typhoon, the group behind what lawmakers are calling “one of the most protracted, risky penetrations of our digital backbone.” Reports dropped today suggest these cyberspies are still lurking inside US telecom and data center networks. Comcast and Digital Realty are among the major names cited. Here’s the kicker: According to Senate testimony last week, Salt Typhoon had “virtually unlimited access” to sensitive voice messages and phone logs—including those of high-profile officials like President Trump and Vice President JD Vance. The attackers burrowed into so-called “lawful intercept” systems, originally meant for law enforcement, flipping them for espionage and potentially for more disruptive purposes down the line.

What’s the tactical endgame? According to the DNI’s 2025 Threat Assessment, Beijing’s playbook involves pre-positioning for the ability to cripple infrastructure or sow panic in a crisis scenario. If tensions flare, expect them to try disrupting comms, hobbling military response, and stoking public confusion.

So what should you do if you’re defending a business or agency? First, if you’re running critical infrastructure or manage customer data, assume you’re a target. Mitigate risk by segmenting networks—especially isolating lawful intercept and admin systems from general operations. Patch aggressively and scrutinize remote access points and IT vendors. Check for persistence mechanisms like ShadowPad or Cobalt Strike beacons—Chinese actors love them.

Security folks: Don’t just focus on your crown jewels. Recent campaigns proved that even your third-party hardware shippers can be a backdoor. And for everyone—be prepared for attempted phishing, drive-by downloads, and exploit chaining of unpatched VPNs and routers.

That’s your frontline debrief for today. Eyes open, patches ready, and—just maybe—time to audit your own “lawful intercept” logs. Stay wry, stay wise, and I’ll see you next time on Digital Frontline.

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