Salt Typhoon, a Chinese threat actor, has successfully infiltrated networking infrastructures of several major US telecommunications organizations, utilizing both old vulnerabilities and stolen credentials. Cisco revealed that one access point stemmed from a 7-year-old vulnerability (CVE-2018-0171). Industry leaders emphasize that outdated security practices are being exploited, pointing out the necessity for organizations to adopt stronger identity security measures. They note the importance of enforcing least privilege, updating security protocols, and enhancing password management to mitigate risks and ensure better protection against evolving cyber threats.
Salt Typhoon's campaign is a clear reminder that identity security is central to cyber resilience. Stolen credentials enabled the group to persist in networks for years, highlighting the need for strong password policies, enterprise password management and multi-factor authentication. But stopping credential theft isn't enough - organizations must also ensure that attackers can't escalate privileges or move laterally once inside.
This incident serves as yet another wake-up call for the industry: Legacy security gaps are still being exploited, and traditional perimeter-based defenses are no longer enough. Time and again, we see everyone from criminal gangs to APTs using tried-and-true methods like stolen credentials and known vulnerabilities to gain footholds, escalate privileges, and access sensitive resources.
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