China’s early hacking training grounds weren’t classrooms or hacking contests, but online forums, real-world targets, and freely shared offensive tools and vulnerabilities.| Natto Thoughts
Inside the small, elite circles that powered China’s massive hacker communities in the late 1990s and 2000s.| nattothoughts.substack.com
Chinese companies face conflicting pressures between MAPP’s non-disclosure requirements and domestic policies that incentivize or mandate vulnerability disclosure to the state.| nattothoughts.substack.com
How one man’s career reveals the interconnected web of China’s state security apparatus, cybersecurity firms, and strategic industries| nattothoughts.substack.com
China’s advances in AI show the effects of a state approach of “introduce, digest, absorb, re-innovate” and years of debate on the balance between market-driven innovation and state-led development| Natto Thoughts
From 'Trouser Belt Project' to 'Patching the Sky': Qi An Xin’s Butian platform serves as cradle for nurturing new talent and smelter for refining seasoned hackers’ skills| nattothoughts.substack.com
The belief that offense enables defense in cyberspace, first rooted in China’s 1990s hacker culture, has since permeated the country’s cyber ecosystem| nattothoughts.substack.com
Qingyuan Polytechnic's focus on vulnerability studies highlights China's continued efforts in gathering vulnerability resources| nattothoughts.substack.com
Jiang Jintao’s journey from hacker to infosec entrepreneur illustrates the blend of ambition, skill, and changes in China's cybersecurity industry| nattothoughts.substack.com
China’s security services have called out hackers of an alleged “Internet Army of Taiwan Independence” and of the U.S. National Security Agency, signaling an increasingly confrontational approach| Natto Thoughts
A case study of the i-SOON indictment and leaks reveals that source information may vary but it is important to compare and evaluate information for unique insights.| nattothoughts.substack.com
US-sanctioned, allegedly APT27-associated actor Zhou Shuai represents a group of Chinese elite hackers who have become an important resource for Chinese state cyber operations.| nattothoughts.substack.com
i-SOON’s business struggles after the leak reflect the cruel reality of China’s hacker-for-hire industry| nattothoughts.substack.com
A year after the i-SOON leaks, a deep dive into the Pangu Team reveals new insight into the relationships between elite vulnerability researchers and government-contracted hackers| nattothoughts.substack.com
Even before DeepSeek's debut sparked pride among Chinese netizens, US sanctions on Sichuan Silence developer Guan Tianfeng triggered online vows to "march forward" in cyberpower competition| nattothoughts.substack.com
Sichuan Juxinhe, directly involved in the Salt Typhoon cyber operations, resembles a front company of the Chinese Ministry of State Security| Natto Thoughts
Chengdu’s leisure lifestyle, education and talent resources have contributed to the city becoming a hacking hub| nattothoughts.substack.com
Sharing our unique insights to help navigate a complex world – consider sending a gift subscription| Natto Thoughts
The Chinese government has leveraged public opinion analysis systems to target U.S. social media platforms to tamper with public discourse in the past. Will Bluesky be included? most likely yes.| Natto Thoughts
Formerly very public, Sichuan Silence has gone quiet since 2020; but as part of a circle of Chengdu-based jack-of-all-trades infosec companies, it serves the state in cyber-enabled operations| Natto Thoughts
Public knowledge of the Salt Typhoon intrusions has been driven by the media, while the government and private-sector cybersecurity companies appear to have agreed on keeping mum| nattothoughts.substack.com
China’s cyber range market booms, fueled by the state’s demand for developing capable cyber talent and improving the effectiveness of “attack and defense live-fire capability”| nattothoughts.substack.com
First i-SOON, then Integrity Tech: How many more Chinese information security companies lie behind Chinese state cyber threat campaigns?| nattothoughts.substack.com
Matrix Cup aligns with China’s strategy to enhance its offensive and defensive cyber capabilities by increasing the volume of vulnerabilities available domestically and fostering young hacking talent.| nattothoughts.substack.com
Russian ransomware actors are “hybrids”: criminals but also IT talent with a fearsome reputation. Why crack down when you can exploit them as a “combat resource” and bargaining chip?| nattothoughts.substack.com
Dmitry Medvedev’s June 13 call to do “maximum harm” to Western infrastructure is not so new: Russian strategists have thought about using ransomware to pressure adversary countries since at least 2016| nattothoughts.substack.com
Russian Cybercriminals face tension between making money, serving the motherland, and avoiding prison time| nattothoughts.substack.com
Russian ransomware actors and other cybercriminals are business people first, but they have to do their duty to the motherland| nattothoughts.substack.com
Some ransomware attacks serve both financial and political motives and may play a role in Russia's ongoing "hybrid warfare" against the West| nattothoughts.substack.com
The perils of machine translation, the importance of dates, and how cultural and linguistic nuances cast new light on the Conti ransomware group| nattothoughts.substack.com
Who are the mysterious hacker whisperers Intrusion Truth? What kinds of tradecraft have they used? What can cyber threat analysts learn from them?| nattothoughts.substack.com
Alexei Navalny's death and funeral fit into the tradition of the Soviet dissident movement and show how his movement appears to have moved past earlier Russian-chauvinist views.| nattothoughts.substack.com
Chinese hackers’ lax operations security; why Chinese officials have to rely on contractors; why i-SOON might not fear blowback from the leak; and how the name-and-shame strategy seems to be failing.| nattothoughts.substack.com
Chat logs in the i-SOON leak show China’s hacker-for-hire industry is subject to Chinese business culture: in the race for profits, survival depends on who you know and who you wine and dine with.| nattothoughts.substack.com
The patriotic rhetoric, targeting and timing of attacks, and occasionally unprofitable operations of Mikhail Matveev's Babuk ransomware group align with Russian state strategic interests| nattothoughts.substack.com
New Report Provides a Glimpse into the Stormy World of Russian Cybercrime Communities| nattothoughts.substack.com
A lawsuit casts light on the ecosystem of IT companies related to Chengdu 404, the company allegedly behind Chinese state-sponsored hacking group APT41.| nattothoughts.substack.com
