Arrest made after four years in connection with Hafnium cyber-attack incident
In the realm of cybersecurity, names can be as significant as the actions they represent. One such group that has made headlines is the Silk Typhoon, formerly known as Hafnium.
Microsoft's "chemical elements" era saw the naming of cybercrime groups using names from the periodic table, with Hafnium being one of the most notable state-sponsored groups. The name Hafnium became widely recognised due to its association with the Microsoft Exchange Server vulnerabilities exploited in 2021, often referred to as the "HAFNIUM campaign".
However, the group is now more commonly known as Silk Typhoon. The name change might be used to describe the group's broader activities beyond the specific Exchange Server hacks, although both names are used interchangeably to refer to the same entity. The "typhoon" in Silk Typhoon denotes a China-based group, while "silk" is a randomly-chosen noun with no metaphorical or adjectival implications.
The US Department of Justice announced that two Chinese nationals, Xu Zewei and Zhang Yu, were indicted for their alleged role in the Silk Typhoon group. Xu Zewei, an IT manager in China, has been remanded in custody and faces extradition to appear in court in America. The other indicted individual, Xu, was arrested in Italy where he was on vacation with his wife. Unfortunately, Zhang Yu remains at large.
After gaining access to vulnerable servers, the attackers typically left behind malware files known as webshells, creating secretive backdoors. These security holes were used to mount a concerted attack against mail servers worldwide. If extradited and convicted, Xu faces anywhere from two years to several decades in custody.
It's important to note that if you're a sysadmin, prompt patching of vulnerabilities is crucial to prevent such attacks. Sysadmins who didn't patch promptly remained vulnerable, allowing the attackers to infiltrate their systems. Once the security holes were identified, Microsoft acted quickly to patch them.
Examples of state-sponsored actor names from this era include Polonium, Seaborgium, Gallium, Terbium, and Hafnium, each as dangerous and elusive as their chemical counterparts.
The naming protocol for cyberthreat groups by Microsoft has been changed to a "first name/last name" system based on meteorology, but the legacy of Hafnium, now Silk Typhoon, continues to loom large in the world of cybersecurity.
Cybersecurity technology plays a crucial role in identifying and combating groups like Silk Typhoon, whose actions can have far-reaching consequences. Silk Typhoon, previously known as Hafnium, is a notorious state-sponsored cybercrime group whose activities are significantly influenced by technology, such as the malware used to infiltrate systems.
