New report on Volt Typhoon's activity against Guam's power utility.

Summary

By the CyberWire staff

At a glance.

New report on Volt Typhoon's activity against Guam's power utility.
Nuclei vulnerability could allow attackers to bypass template signature verification.
Tenable CEO Amit Yoran passes away.

New report on Volt Typhoon's activity against Guam's power utility.

Bloomberg has published a report on a 2022 cyberattack by the Chinese APT Volt Typhoon against Guam's Power Authority (GPA), the only power utility on the US island territory. The threat actor used unique strains of malware to infiltrate numerous entities in Guam and gained access to "sensitive defense networks meant to be impregnable." The US Navy is GPA's largest customer, and much of the US military activity on the island relies on civilian infrastructure.

The goal of the operation appears to be prepositioning to disrupt military and civilian operations in the event of conflict over Taiwan. The US government has accused Volt Typhoon of conducting widespread battlespace preparation within US critical infrastructure in case of future conflicts. Beijing has denied its involvement in the campaign, calling the accusations "smear attacks against China without any factual basis."

Nuclei vulnerability could allow attackers to bypass template signature verification.

Researchers at Wiz discovered a vulnerability in open-source vulnerability scanner Nuclei that could allow attackers to bypass template signature verification and inject malicious code. The researchers explain, "An attack vector for this vulnerability arises when organizations run untrusted or community-contributed templates without proper validation or isolation. Additionally, services that allow users to modify or upload Nuclei templates, such as automated scanning platforms or shared security pipelines, become particularly vulnerable. An attacker could exploit this functionality to inject malicious templates, leading to arbitrary command execution, data exfiltration, or system compromise."

Nuclei's owner ProjectDiscovery issued a fix for the flaw on September 4th, and users should ensure their instances are up to date.

Tenable CEO Amit Yoran passes away.

Amit Yoran, CEO of Tenable and a respected leader in the cybersecurity community, passed away on Friday at the age of 54 following a battle with cancer. Yoran became Tenable's CEO in 2016, previously serving as president of RSA, founding CEO of NetWitness, and CEO of In-Q-Tel. He also served as a founding member of the US Department of Defense's Computer Emergency Response Team.

Tenable's CFO Steve Vintz and COO Mark Thurmond will lead the company as co-CEOs until a new chief executive is found. Tenable said in a press release, "A visionary leader and a pioneer in the cybersecurity industry, Amit dedicated his life to making the digital world safer. His unwavering commitment to innovation and relentless pursuit of excellence transformed Tenable into a global leader in exposure management. His contributions to the field have left an indelible mark, not only on the company but on the broader cybersecurity community."

Notes.

Today's issue includes events affecting China, Taiwan, and the United States.

Attacks, Threats, and Vulnerabilities

Chinese hackers also breached Charter and Windstream networks (BleepingComputer) More U.S. companies have been added to the list of telecommunications firms hacked in a wave of breaches by a Chinese state-backed threat group tracked as Salt Typhoon.

China protests US sanctions for its alleged role in hacking, complains of foreign hacker attacks (AP News) China has slammed a decision by the U.S. Treasury to sanction a Beijing-based cybersecurity company for its alleged role in multiple hacking incidents targeting critical U.S. infrastructure.

Marketplace

Tenable CEO Amit Yoran dies (TechCrunch) Longtime entrepreneur and cybersecurity executive Amit Yoran passed away Friday after a battle with cancer. Cybersecurity company Tenable, where Yoran was

British university spinoff Mindgard protects companies from AI threats (TechCrunch) AI creates a dilemma for companies: Don't implement it yet, and you might miss out on productivity gains and other potential benefits, but do it wrong,

Legislation, Policy, and Regulation

Encryption backdoor debate 'done and dusted' (The Register) When the FBI urges E2EE, you know it's serious business

Industry Events

For a complete running list of events, please visit the Event Tracker.

Events

Hacking 4 Humanity 2025 (Virtual, Jan 24 - Feb 7, 2025) Online hate is on the rise, leading to real-world devastating effects on individuals and communities around the world. Join Carnegie Mellon, Duquesne, Pitt, and other undergrad and grad students from Pittsburgh at a multidisciplinary hackathon to develop new tech and policy solutions that mitigate online hate and create safer communities. Hacking4Humanity is a tech and policy hackathon for undergraduate and graduate students, which offers students a new way to engage with real-world social problems that can be improved with novel technical and policy solutions.

GSA Spaceport Summit 2025 (Orlando, Florida, USA, Jan 27, 2025) Commercial Space Week begins with annual GSA Spaceport Summit on January 27, 2025.

Space Mobility Conference and Expo (Orlando, Florida, USA, Jan 28, 2025) Space Mobility mobilizes commercial industry executives and high-ranking officials from defense and government agencies to assure access and superiority in the highly contested space domain.

SpaceCom/Space Congress (Orlando, Florida, USA, Jan 28 - 30, 2025) SpaceCom | Space Congress exclusively draws participation from the industry leaders and organizations with the power to drive new space strategies, fuel forward progress, signal demand for continued innovation, inform policy, and institute a sustainable future for commercial space. As host of Commercial Space Week, SpaceCom integrates the people, institutions, and solutions that ignite innovation– facilitating progress for every space mission.

27th Annual Commercial Space Conference - Launching Tomorrow: Government and Industry Taking Space to New Heights (Washington, DC, USA, Feb 12, 2025) For more than a decade, the Commercial Spaceflight Federation (CSF) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) have partnered to host the Commercial Space Transportation Conference. CSF and FAA-AST have decided to change the name of the event to the Commercial Space Conference (CSC) to be more inclusive and recognize the broader sectors of the commercial space industry. We are proud to include speakers from the many agencies the commercial space industry interfaces with daily, including the FAA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Department of Commerce, The White House, Congress, the State Department, the National Space Council, and the Department of Defense and Intelligence Community. During this intensive one-day event, hundreds will gather to discuss the most pressing commercial space policy issues facing the industry and to hear insights from prominent U.S. government and industry leaders. Topics for discussion will include the policy and regulatory framework for launch and re-entry operations, commercial Earth observation activities, space situational awareness and space traffic coordination, orbital debris mitigation and space sustainability, and in-space servicing, assembly and manufacturing or ISAM.

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Daily Briefing for 01.06.25

At a glance.

New report on Volt Typhoon's activity against Guam's power utility.

Nuclei vulnerability could allow attackers to bypass template signature verification.

Tenable CEO Amit Yoran passes away.

Notes.

Attacks, Threats, and Vulnerabilities

Marketplace

Legislation, Policy, and Regulation

Events