Daily Briefing for 03.16.26

Top stories.

• Drone strike on Qatar helium facility impacts global semiconductor industry.
• Chinese cyberespionage campaign targets Southeast Asian military organizations.
• Telus Digital investigates ShinyHunters breach.

Drone strike on Qatar helium facility impacts global semiconductor industry.

A drone strike linked to Iran shut down QatarEnergy's Ras Laffan helium facility last week, cutting off about a third of the world's helium supply. TechSpot notes that helium is critical for manufacturing semiconductors, as it allows silicon wafers to maintain the extremely cold temperatures needed for etching and lithography. Tom's Hardware observes that South Korea, which imports 65% of its helium from Qatar, is particularly vulnerable to disruption.

There is no effective substitute for helium in chip manufacturing, and supply-chain disruptions could last for months. Gasworld quotes helium consultant Phil Kornbluth as saying, "My thinking is that however long the helium production shutdown lasts, we’ll need to add at least two months to sort out the logistics and truly get back to normal....Due to relatively long transit times between Qatar and its primary markets and high inventory levels going into the Middle East crisis, the physical market will not feel much in the way of supply deficits for several weeks. But spot prices have already spiked higher and at least one major supplier has implemented a pricing surcharge."

Chinese cyberespionage campaign targets Southeast Asian military organizations.

Palo Alto Networks's Unit 42 has published a report on a long-running Chinese cyberespionage campaign targeting Southeast Asian military organizations. The campaign has been running since at least 2020, using several newly observed strains of malware. The researchers note, "The activity demonstrated strategic operational patience and a focus on highly targeted intelligence collection, rather than bulk data theft. The attackers behind this cluster actively searched for and collected highly specific files concerning military capabilities, organizational structures, and collaborative efforts with Western armed forces."

Telus Digital investigates ShinyHunters breach.

Canadian business process outsourcing company Telus Digital has confirmed that it's investigating a breach following claims by the ShinyHunters extortion group to have stolen nearly a petabyte of data from the company, BleepingComputer reports. Telus stated, "TELUS Digital is investigating a cybersecurity incident involving unauthorized access to a limited number of our systems. Upon discovery, we took immediate steps to address the unauthorized activity and secure our systems against further intrusion. We are actively managing the situation and continue to monitor it closely. All business operations within TELUS Digital remain fully operational, and there is no evidence of disruption to customer connectivity or services."

BleepingComputer cites a source as saying that Telus is not negotiating with the extortion group. ShinyHunters told the publication that they gained access using Google Cloud Platform credentials stolen during the Salesloft Drift breach in August 2025.