This is your Silicon Siege: China's Tech Offensive podcast.
Hey listeners, Ting here, your go-to cyber sleuth on all things China hacking chaos. Buckle up for Silicon Siege: China's Tech Offensive, straight from the trenches of the past two weeks ending February 18, 2026. These Beijing-backed crews aren't playing— they're burrowing deep into US tech like termites at a silicon buffet.
Picture this: UNC6201, that sneaky Chinese APT squad Mandiant's been tracking, has been exploiting a zero-day in Dell's RecoverPoint for Virtual Machines since mid-2024. CVE-2026-22769, a hardcoded credential nightmare with a perfect 10.0 CVSS score, lets 'em waltz into OS roots, deploy malware like Slaystone, Brickstorm, and their shiny new C# beast Grimbolt—compiled with native AOT to dodge analysts like a ghost in the machine. Dell patched it February 18, but Mandiant says these hackers swapped Brickstorm for Grimbolt last September, creating "Ghost NICs" on VMware ESXi servers to pivot unseen into SaaS and internal nets. Overlaps with UNC5221, aka Silk Typhoon kin, who hit Ivanti zero-days for gov targets. Google's Threat Intelligence Group confirms dozens of US orgs in legal, tech, and manufacturing got Brickstormed—long-term espionage gold.
Not done yet. Dragos dropped their 2025 Year in Review February 17, exposing Voltzite—Volt Typhoon's evil twin—embedded in US energy grids, oil, gas, even pipelines via Sierra Wireless AirLink compromises. CEO Robert M. Lee spilled: no IP theft, just sabotage prep, exfiltrating sensor data, configs, and alarm intel to flip the "kill switch" on demand. Newbies Sylvanite and Kamacite are their access brokers, slamming F5, Ivanti, SAP vulns in 48 hours flat for OT deep dives into power, water, manufacturing. JDY botnet scanned energy VPNs for pre-staging.
Supply chain? Texas AG Ken Paxton sued TP-Link February 18, calling BS on their "Made in Vietnam" stickers—it's China-dominated parts, subsidies from the PLA, and firmware holes CISA flagged last year that Chinese state actors exploit for home router hacks. Lenovo's dodging a class-action too, accused of piping behavioral data to Beijing under National Intelligence Law. Google's GTIG warns China leads cyber ops volume, hitting defense suppliers and drone tech.
Industry pros like Mandiant's crew and Dragos see strategic doom: persistent footholds for wartime blackouts, IP grabs fueling China's AI chip rush despite US export curbs. Future risks? Patch fast, ditch shady hardware, or watch grids go dark. We're talking hybrid war where code is the new missile.
Thanks for tuning in, listeners—subscribe for more cyber spice! This has been a Quiet Please production, for more check out quietplease.ai.
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