Hackers linked to Chinese government used mobile malware to spy on ethnic minority
Security researchers say a hacking group likely linked to the Chinese government is conducting targeted surveillance against a Chinese ethnic minority, known as the Uyghurs, through the deployment of sophisticated mobile malware, according to new evidence published Friday by U.S. cybersecurity firm Lookout. The attackers are associated with a known Chinese threat actor previously codenamed “Scarlet Mimic” by security researchers with Palo Alto Networks, according to Michael Flossman, a senior security researcher with Lookout. Based on separate research by Palo Alto Networks and ThreatConnect, Scarlet Mimic’s past operations have followed closely with the interests of the Communist Party of China. The party remains worried about the potential for rebellion in the highly contested Xinjiang region, where the majority of the Uyghur population lives. Lookout found a series of booby trapped Android applications designed for Chinese users — a SIM Card Management, “Phone Guardian” and Google Searcher program — which carried the same […]
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