China-Linked Cyber Group Carry Out Espionage Against South China Sea Nations

A new cyber threat actor, suspected of ties to China, has been targeting military and government organizations in the South China Sea countries since 2018, according to Romanian cybersecurity company Bitdefender. Bitdefender researchers named the threat actor “Unfading Sea Haze” and noted that its operations are aligned with China’s geopolitical interests, with attacks focusing on espionage, according to their report published on May 22. “The targets and nature of the attacks suggest alignment with Chinese interests,” the report reads. The group had created “a sophisticated arsenal of custom malware and tools,” the researchers noted, with one of its techniques being found to overlap with that of a well-known China-back espionage group APT41....