Volt Typhoon

Volt Typhoon, a China-sponsored threat actor group identified as one of the most dangerous and persistent nation-state actors by security researchers and the U.S. government, has been active since at least mid-2021, carrying out cyber operations against critical infrastructure. The group is known for its strong operational security and obfuscation of their malware, employing advanced techniques for enterprise reconnaissance and lateral movement. Volt Typhoon's activities suggest that they primarily aim to establish a foothold within networks to secure access to Operational Technology (OT) assets, often obtaining information such as the victim's system timezone. In August 2024, new zero-day attacks were linked to Volt Typhoon, exploiting a vulnerability in Versa Director tracked as CVE-2024-39717. This enabled them to deploy a custom webshell, dubbed "VersaMem," on breached networks, capturing plaintext user credentials on affected systems. The group used this flaw to infiltrate target networks, with Black Lotus Labs attributing the zero-day exploit campaign to Volt Typhoon "with moderate confidence." The exploitation of this vulnerability was assessed as being limited to Volt Typhoon and likely ongoing against unpatched Versa Director systems. Despite efforts from entities like the FBI to disrupt Volt Typhoon's attack infrastructure, the threat posed by this group remains significant. As of the time of writing, the attacks are likely still ongoing, particularly against unpatched Versa Director systems. Given the group's demonstrated capabilities and persistence, it's crucial for organizations to prioritize patching vulnerabilities, enhancing their cybersecurity posture, and monitoring for signs of compromise related to Volt Typhoon's known tactics, techniques, and procedures.