95
Sophistication
2021
First Seen
89
Notoriety
98
Stealth
97
Immersive Rating
94
Impact
83
Tactics Variety

Salt Typhoon

Chinese state-linked actor (also tracked as Earth Estries, GhostEmperor, FamousSparrow) specializing in telecommunications and critical infrastructure espionage. Responsible for the 2024 compromise of major US telecom providers, including access to lawful intercept systems used by law enforcement.

Key behaviours to watch:

  • Exploitation of edge devices (Cisco routers, Ivanti VPN, Fortinet) for initial access to carrier networks.
  • Long-term persistence using GRE/IPsec tunnels, modified SSH keys, and living-off-the-land techniques on network infrastructure.
  • Targeting of CALEA wiretap systems, call metadata, and communications of government officials.

IT Army of Ukraine
75
2013
68
72
88
65
70
Kamacite
88
2013
86
83
85
81
86
Kimusky
62
2021
88
43
86
78
66
Lapsus$
89
2009
92
73
85
81
87
Lazarus Group
95
2008
85
92
93
94
88
LulzSec
50
2011
75
38
62
72
52
MAGNALLIUM
80
2013
56
73
79
58
74
Onyx Sleet
85
2014
80
80
84
71
77