The Ever-Present Threat of Cyber Espionage: Unveiling the Tactics of Volt Typhoon

Almost all internet spies work to conceal their tracks, utilizing what’s known as botnets by both governments and infiltrators to obfuscate their cyber operations is nothing new.

This approach is often employed when the attacker wants to target multiple victims quickly at once or seeks to cover their tracks.

China denies hacking, as it did in the case of Volt Typhoon. But documentation of electronic espionage campaigns originating from Beijing has been accumulating for over two decades, according to Reuters.

Espionage has become a sharp focus over the past decade, with Western researchers linking the violations to specific units within the People’s Liberation Army, and U.S. law enforcement authorities accusing a series of Chinese officers of stealing U.S. secrets.

“Volt Typhoon’s interest in operational security breaches is likely driven by embarrassment from U.S. indictments and increasing pressure on leadership (in China) to avoid general scrutiny of its electronic espionage activities,” said SecureWorks, a Dell subsidiary, in a blog post last year.

The Biden administration has increasingly focused on hacking, not just out of fear that countries will attempt to disrupt the upcoming U.S. elections in November, but also because ransomware programs caused chaos in American companies in 2023.