Volt Typhoon
Volt Typhoon is a China-linked, state-sponsored threat actor focused on stealthy intrusion and long-term access in critical infrastructure environments. The content describes the group as targeting largely U.S. critical national infrastructure, including communications, energy, water, wastewater, and transportation systems, and specifically notes intrusions into water and wastewater IT environments across multiple U.S. critical sectors. Its objective is characterized as strategic positioning and prepositioning for potential future disruption during a crisis rather than immediate visible effects. The actor is described as relying heavily on living-off-the-land tradecraft, using victim-owned tools, systems, and credentials rather than deploying conventional malware, which makes detection difficult for SIEM and SOC teams. The content also links Volt Typhoon to the KV botnet and states that China-linked operators used compromised end-of-life SOHO routers, including Cisco and NetGear devices, to conceal access. One cited operation notes that in December 2023 the FBI disrupted KV-botnet malware from hundreds of U.S. SOHO routers that Volt Typhoon was using as relay infrastructure. A restricted WaterISAC notice title further indicates an IOC associated with Volt Typhoon performing network enumeration on Utah infrastructure. The content explicitly associates Volt Typhoon with techniques including PowerShell execution (T1059.001), exploitation for privilege escalation (T1068), and multi-hop proxying (T1090.003). It also states that the group has operated in this living-off-the-land manner for over five years. Aliases directly mentioned in the content include BRONZE SILHOUETTE, DEV-0391, Insidious Taurus, Storm-0391, UNC3236, Vanguard Panda, VOLTZITE, and G1017. The content also places Volt Typhoon alongside other Chinese state-sponsored campaigns such as Salt Typhoon and Flax Typhoon as examples of operations supported by a broader commercial ecosystem of private firms, contractors, and botnet infrastructure.
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Targeting
Who, where, and (when attributed) which flag flies behind the operation. Pulled from open-source reporting and Mallory's analyst review.
Who they target
Sectors the actor has been observed targeting.
- Utilities
Where they target
Geographies tied to known operations.
- 🇺🇸 United States
Where they're from
Attributed origin per open-source reporting.
- CN
Tradecraft
50 distinct techniques observed across reporting, grouped by tactic. Hover any cell for the evidence excerpt; click through for MITRE's full description.
Associated malware families
31 malware families attributed to this actor across reporting.
26 additional families tracked in Mallory.
Associated vulnerabilities
33 CVEs this actor has used in observed campaigns. 33 of them exploited in the wild.
Fortinet disclosed in February that the Chinese Volt Typhoon hacking group exploited two FortiOS SSL VPN flaws (CVE-2022-42475 and CVE-2023-27997) to backdoor a Dutch Ministry of Defence military network using custom Coathanger remote access trojan (RAT) malware.
Fortinet disclosed in February that the Chinese Volt Typhoon hacking group exploited two FortiOS SSL VPN flaws (CVE-2022-42475 and CVE-2023-27997) to backdoor a Dutch Ministry of Defence military network using custom Coathanger remote access trojan (RAT) malware.
"Lumen Technologies reported Chinese APT Volt Typhoon exploiting Versa Director servers (CVE-2024-39717), enabling credential interception and malicious code injection." | Lumen Technologies reported Chinese APT Volt Typhoon exploiting Versa Director servers (CVE-2024-39717), enabling credential interception and malicious code injection.
Exploiting vulnerabilities in widely used software including, but not limited to: CVE-2021-40539—ManageEngine ADSelfService Plus.
Ensure that these products in your environment are updated with the latest patches... Ivanti (CVE-2024-21887 & CVE-2023-46805)
28 more CVEs tied to this actor tracked in Mallory.
Observables
108 indicators attributed to this actor: domains, IPs, hashes, and other artifacts pulled from reporting. View more in app.
Recent activity
20 sources tracked across advisories, community write-ups, and news. New activity surfaces here as Mallory finds it.
China-linked group conducting stealthy intrusions into water and wastewater IT environments for long-term access and pre-positioning in the event of geopolitical escalation.
Chinese state-sponsored campaign cited as an example of operations depending on a commercial ecosystem of private companies, contractors, and data brokers.
Used compromised SOHO routers as a botnet/relay layer to conceal pre-positioned access for potential crisis-related operations against U.S. critical infrastructure.
Chinese state-sponsored actor discussed as a representative espionage threat focused on intelligence gathering and strategic access rather than overt disruption.
The version that knows your environment.
Match sector + geo + tech-stack targeting against your real footprint.
Every observed MITRE ATT&CK technique, grouped by tactic.
Families this actor is known to deploy, with IOCs and behavior.
CVEs this actor has used in known campaigns.
YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.
Domains, IPs, and hashes tied to this actor, refreshed continuously.