Tensions between China and its neighbors are finding more expression in cyberspace. As FireEye reported last week, Vietnam is thought to have conducted a recent cyber espionage campaign against Chinese targets, mostly targets that might yield information about the origins and transmission of COVID-19. Now Chinese threat actors are engaged in spearphishing officials in Da Nang. Anomali sees strong indications that the Pirate Panda group is behind the attacks. Da Nang is a coastal city relatively close to the Paracel Islands, ownership of which is disputed among China, Vietnam, and the Philippines. CyberScoop says that the spearphishing campaign seems linked to the territorial dispute, especially since Da Nang was recently visited by the USS Theodore Roosevelt and the USS Bunker Hill, on a diplomatic good will mission. The US regards those waters as international; China says it owns them.
While the best available information indicates that Kim Jong-un is still running North Korea, and isn't under any serious immediate challenge, the recent scare about his health and the realization that the DPRK's succession plans are vague at best have led the Atlantic Council to warn that North Korean offensive cyber capabilities could become a loose cannon in the event of a leadership crisis in Pyongyang.
The attacks on Israeli water and wastewater treatment facilities were conducted by hackers who knew how to affect programmable logic controllers, SecurityWeek reports.
The CBC says the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are investigating a ransomware attack against Northwest Territories Power Corporation website and email services.