China-linked cyber actors targeting router firmware

Cyber actors linked to the People’s Republic of China are targeting router firmware in government and multinational organizations, which should review all subsidiary connections and consider implementing Zero Trust models to limit a potential compromise, U.S. and Japanese agencies advised Sept. 27. 
 
“As geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and China increase, we can expect to see a corresponding increase in sophisticated supply chain attacks by the PRC,” said John Riggi, AHA’s national advisor for cybersecurity and risk. “Although these attacks do not appear to be targeting health care specifically, if these compromised routers are present within our networks, we are equally exposed to the vulnerability. Among the many remediation techniques described in the alert, it is critical to block unauthorized outbound connections, white-list authorized IP addresses and monitor logs for anomalous behavior.”
 
For more information on this or other cyber and risk issues, contact Riggi at jriggi@aha.org. For the latest cyber and risk resources and threat intelligence, visit aha.org/cybersecurity.