Chinese Cyber Ninjas Strike Again: Volt & Salt Typhoon Wreak Havoc on US Infrastructure

This is your Dragon's Code: America Under Cyber Siege podcast.

Listeners, Ting here—your cyber sleuth and code whisperer! Skip the drama, straight to the digital fireworks: in just the past week, the United States witnessed one of the most sophisticated flurries of Chinese cyber operations targeting infrastructure that I've ever had the mixed pleasure of dissecting.

First off, the big baddies behind these latest attacks are names you now know by heart: Volt Typhoon and Salt Typhoon. In line with Beijing’s 14th Five-Year Plan—wrapping up this very year, mind you—these crews have been all about digging in discreetly rather than blowing things up. Their M.O.? Zero-day exploits—brand new vulnerabilities nobody else has patched yet—launched quietly into utility companies, telecom networks, and even state transportation hubs, making themselves nearly invisible. It’s like the cyber version of being a ninja squid, smearing ink, then slipping away.

According to Microsoft, three distinct hacking clusters tied to China hammered away at on-premises SharePoint servers. These hackers didn’t just scrape data—they established long-term access, sometimes by creating admin-level backdoors right under IT’s nose. Then, they used lateral movement: think worming from one vulnerable device, like an edge router, right through to backbone routers and then deeper into organizations’ operational technology. They exploited common configuration weaknesses—default passwords, weak credential storage—then covered tracks using port mirroring and route manipulation. The result? Silent, privileged access to the digital control rooms of energy grids, telecom, and municipal services.

Attribution for these ops gets sticky but is built on forensic breadcrumbs: command-and-control server logs, shared malware signatures linked to Salt Typhoon’s previous reconnaissance efforts, and overlapping infrastructure with historic PLA-backed campaigns, as reported by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Cyble, for one, cites global hits across telecom, government, and even unsuspecting universities.

The response? A mad scramble. CISA, despite recent turbulence and staff losses following Director Tulsi Gabbard’s infamous ODNI downsizing, led a rapid-fire threat-sharing campaign. But with new resources under threat and state funding wobbly, as Rep. Andy Ogles pointed out this week, agencies at the local level are struggling to keep up. Some states, like Texas, are rolling out their own “hostile foreign adversary” units, but even NSA veteran Tony Sager doubts states can slug toe-to-toe with nation-state ops unless Uncle Sam seriously steps up.

Defensive wins this week included mass password resets, emergency patching drives for core routers and SharePoint servers, and the use of secure AI-enhanced detection for anomaly spotting. But experts like Lauren Goldman—former CTIIC analysis chief—warn that state readiness remains uneven, especially as key intelligence programs face federal scalebacks at the worst imaginable moment.

The lessons? Assume China is in your system and play like you're already compromised. Cyber pros urge holistic defense: tighter federal-state collaboration, fast intelligence sharing, and regular red-team drills simulating the latest TTPs. Above all—never, ever, use “cisco/cisco” as a password. Just don’t.

Listeners, if you want your infrastructure to stay out of Dragon’s Code, vigilance isn’t a luxury—it’s your baseline. Thanks for tuning in! Don’t forget to subscribe, and remember: This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.

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