Chinese government hackers allegedly spent years undetected in foreign phone networks

• Security researchers Sygnia discover attack after responding to a separate incident
• The attack was attributed to a Chinese state-sponsored threat actor
• Weaver Ant group lurked for years, stealing sensitive data and moving laterally

Chinese state-sponsored threat actors allegedly spent four years lurking in the IT infrastructure of a “major” Asian telecommunications provider, according to cybersecurity researchers Sygnia, which discovered the cyber-espionage campaign after responding to a separate incident.

In a technical writeup, Sygnia said while investigating a separate forensic case, multiple security alerts flagged suspicious activity. Furthermore, a previously disabled account was re-enabled, raising even more suspicion.