At least two research institutes located in Russia and a third likely target in Belarus have been at the receiving end of an espionage attack by a Chinese nation-state advanced persistent threat (APT).
The attacks, codenamed "
Twisted Panda," come in the backdrop of Russia's military invasion of Ukraine, prompting a
wide range of
threat actors to swiftly adapt their campaigns on the ongoing conflict to distribute malware and stage opportunistic attacks.
They have materialized in the form of social engineering schemes with topical war and sanctions-themed baits orchestrated to trick potential victims into clicking malicious links or opening weaponized documents.