Volt Typhoon

Threat Actor
68 incidents First seen 2026-04-13 Last seen 2026-10-30
Overview

Volt Typhoon is a People's Republic of China (PRC) state-sponsored actor that has been active since at least 2021, primarily targeting critical infrastructure organizations in the US and its territories including Guam. Volt Typhoon's targeting and pattern of behavior have been assessed as pre-positioning to enable lateral movement to operational technology (OT) assets for potential destructive or disruptive attacks. Volt Typhoon has emphasized stealth in operations using web shells, living-off-the-land (LOTL) binaries, hands on keyboard activities, and stolen credentials.. The group has leveraged compromised SOHO routers to proxy command and control traffic and obscure its infrastructure, activity associated with the KV botnet.. Reporting indicates a separate initial access cluster, SYLVANITE, has been observed exploiting internet-facing edge devices and transferring access to Volt Typhoon, also tracked as VOLTZITE, for follow-on operations.

Threat ecosystem
Actors Malware Campaigns CVEs
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At a glance
peak priority 180 91 techniques 17 tools & malware in ATT&CK since 2023-07-27 updated 2026-07-31 · v2.0
Activity by month (incidents)
2026-012026-10
Sectors targeted
government · 31energy · 16manufacturing · 15defense · 13telecommunications · 10transportation · 10technology · 8aerospace · 7aviation · 3education · 2
Countries targeted
US · 43CA · 41CN · 33GB · 15AU · 10BE · 10DE · 10AT · 9CH · 9DK · 9ES · 9FI · 9
Origin
CN · 50CA · 20US · 20RU · 9IR · 8GB · 7
Kinds of incident
State-Sponsored & Espionage · 23Exploited Vulnerability · 16Malware & Botnets · 10Critical Infrastructure & OT · 8Industry & Policy · 8Vulnerability Disclosure · 6
Techniques seen in incidents
Espionage · 29Botnet · 13Lateral Movement · 12Reconnaissance · 12Exfiltration · 10Phishing · 9Ransomware · 7Privilege Escalation · 6T1059.006 - Python · 6T1584.005 - Botnet · 6Sabotage · 5T1588.006 - Vulnerabilities · 5T1592.002 - Software · 5T1588.001 - Malware · 4
Related malware
PlugX · 2COATHANGER · 1Cobalt Strike · 1Korplug · 1REPTILE · 1ShadowPad · 1ZIPLINE · 1
Related CVEs
CVE-2026-20127 · 8CVE-2025-30237 · 2CVE-2025-30238 · 2CVE-2025-30239 · 2CVE-2025-30240 · 2CVE-2025-30241 · 2CVE-2025-8875 · 2CVE-2025-8876 · 2CVE-2026-0300 · 2CVE-2026-16812 · 2
ATT&CK techniques by tactic (91)
reconnaissance T1589 Gather Victim Identity Information T1589.002 Email Addresses T1590 Gather Victim Network Information T1590.004 Network Topology T1590.006 Network Security Appliances T1591 Gather Victim Org Information T1591.004 Identify Roles T1592 Gather Victim Host Information T1593 Search Open Websites/Domains T1594 Search Victim-Owned Websites T1596.005 Scan Databases
resource development T1584.003 Virtual Private Server T1584.004 Server T1584.005 Botnet T1584.008 Network Devices T1587.004 Exploits T1588.002 Tool T1588.006 Vulnerabilities
initial access T1078 Valid Accounts T1078.002 Domain Accounts T1133 External Remote Services T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application
execution T1047 Windows Management Instrumentation T1059.001 PowerShell T1059.003 Windows Command Shell T1059.004 Unix Shell
persistence T1078 Valid Accounts T1078.002 Domain Accounts T1112 Modify Registry T1133 External Remote Services T1505.003 Web Shell
privilege escalation T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation T1078 Valid Accounts T1078.002 Domain Accounts
credential access T1003.001 LSASS Memory T1003.003 NTDS T1056.001 Keylogging T1552 Unsecured Credentials T1552.004 Private Keys T1555 Credentials from Password Stores T1555.003 Credentials from Web Browsers
discovery T1007 System Service Discovery T1010 Application Window Discovery T1012 Query Registry T1016 System Network Configuration Discovery T1016.001 Internet Connection Discovery T1018 Remote System Discovery T1033 System Owner/User Discovery T1046 Network Service Discovery T1049 System Network Connections Discovery T1057 Process Discovery T1069 Permission Groups Discovery T1069.001 Local Groups T1069.002 Domain Groups T1083 File and Directory Discovery T1087.001 Local Account T1087.002 Domain Account T1120 Peripheral Device Discovery T1124 System Time Discovery T1217 Browser Information Discovery T1497.001 System Checks T1518 Software Discovery T1614 System Location Discovery T1654 Log Enumeration T1680 Local Storage Discovery
lateral movement T1021.001 Remote Desktop Protocol T1570 Lateral Tool Transfer
collection T1005 Data from Local System T1056.001 Keylogging T1074 Data Staged T1074.001 Local Data Staging T1113 Screen Capture T1560.001 Archive via Utility
command and control T1090 Proxy T1090.001 Internal Proxy T1090.003 Multi-hop Proxy T1105 Ingress Tool Transfer T1573.001 Symmetric Cryptography
stealth T1006 Direct Volume Access T1027.002 Software Packing T1036.005 Match Legitimate Resource Name or Location T1036.008 Masquerade File Type T1070.004 File Deletion T1070.007 Clear Network Connection History and Configurations T1078 Valid Accounts T1078.002 Domain Accounts T1140 Deobfuscate/Decode Files or Information T1218 System Binary Proxy Execution T1497.001 System Checks
defense impairment T1112 Modify Registry T1685.005 Clear Windows Event Logs
Tools & malware it uses
certutilcmdFRPImpacketipconfigMimikatzNetnetshnetstatNltestPingPsExecRegSysteminfoTasklistVersaMemWevtutil
Campaigns attributed to it
KV Botnet ActivityVersa Director Zero Day Exploitation
Incident timeline
2026-10-30
Drupal Commerce Core Vulnerability Exploited Against Online Stores
2026-10-30
TeamViewer Flaw Could Let Malicious Hosts Take Over Support Technicians’ Machines
2026-10-29
Hackers exploit Cisco SD-WAN flaw to deploy custom KeyDrift malware
2026-10-29
Adobe, Veeam, Juniper Networks Patch Critical Vulnerabilities
2026-10-29
Chinese hackers, known as "Voltygun", have exploited four zero-day vulnerabilities to carry out long-term infiltration into the US critical infrastructure.
2026-10-29
Cisco Patches Actively Exploited ASA and FTD VPN Flaw That Can Crash Firewalls
2026-10-29
Volt Typhoon Used Silent Train to Hide Zero-Day Attacks
2026-10-29
Cisco SD-WAN Zero-Day Exploitation Tied to Volt Typhoon’s ‘Silent Train’ Network
2026-10-29
Hackers Exploited Cisco SD-WAN Flaw to Plant Malware Built to Steal Encryption Keys
2026-10-28
Inside KeyDrift: Analyzing historical UAT-11473 activity on Cisco SD-WAN
2026-10-28
Volt Typhoon Used Covert Silent Train Network in Four Zero-Day Exploitation Campaigns
AlienVault OTX
2026-10-28
Volt Typhoon Used Covert Silent Train Network in Four Zero-Day Exploitation Campaigns
AlienVault OTX
2026-10-28
Chinese state-sponsored hacking group Volt Typhoon has been ...
2026-10-28
Volt Typhoon hides zero-day attacks using 'Silent Train' framework
2026-10-28
Researchers uncover Volt Typhoon’s covert, ephemeral network
2026-10-09
TP-Link Sued by Four More U.S. States Over Router Security and China Ties
2026-10-08
TP-Link Faces State Lawsuits and New Scrutiny Over ISP Router Flaws
2026-09-16
BambooToken: The Malware That Speaks MQTT to Stay Under the Radar
2026-09-01
China's 'Fire Ant' campaign used compromised Cisco routers as platform for more attacks
2026-08-31
China-Linked Fire Ant Hijacks Cisco Routers to Steal Credentials and Blind Security Logs
2026-08-27
CISA Warns Water Utilities: Find Your Exposed PLCs Before Attackers Do
2026-08-26
FBI Seizes China-Linked Hacking Platforms QScan and QTRouter Used Against Critical Infrastructure
2026-07-28
CISA shares advice on isolating vital systems during cyberattacks
2026-07-23
ANCHOR-CI could fix 20 years of broken government-industry collaboration
2026-07-21
Closing the Identity Gaps in Critical Infrastructure Security
2026-07-01
China-Linked Group Targets Southeast Asia Critical Systems
2026-06-29
Iran, Russia, China Target Water Systems for Sabotage
2026-06-22
Canada’s Spy Agency Used First-of-Its-Kind Warrant to Clean Botnet-Infected Devices
2026-06-18
Hostile States Behind 75% of Cyber-Attacks on UK Critical Infrastructure, NCSC Warns
2026-06-17
Hostile states behind three-quarters of attacks on Britain's critical infrastructure, cyber chief warns
2026-05-12
State-sponsored actors, better known as the friends you don’t want
2026-05-11
US: FCC Relaxes Foreign-Made Router Ban to Allow for Security Updates
2026-05-11
US: FCC Relaxes Foreign-Made Router Ban to Allow for Security Updates
2026-05-06
New CISA initiative aims for critical infrastructure to operate offline during cyberattacks
2026-05-05
CISA wants critical infrastructure to operate ‘weeks to months’ in isolation during conflict
2026-05-04
Small Defense Firms Lack Network Data to Stop Nation-State Hackers, Analyst Says
2026-05-04
Small Defense Firms Lack Network Data to Stop Nation-State Hackers, Analyst Says
2026-04-23
China-Backed Hackers Are Industrializing Botnets
2026-04-23
Dragos: Despite AI use, new malware targeting water plants is ‘hype’
2026-04-23
A dozen allied agencies say China is building covert hacker networks out of everyday routers
2026-04-23
UK warns of Chinese hackers using proxy networks to evade detection
2026-04-22
China’s cyber capabilities now equal to the US, warns Dutch intelligence