Jun 27, 07:55 PM

Canada Attributes Telecom Breach to China-Linked Salt Typhoon Exploiting Cisco ISE Flaw; FBI Warns Scattered Spider Targets North American Airlines Using Social Engineering

Canadian telecommunications companies have been targeted by a China-linked state-sponsored hacking group known as Salt Typhoon. The group exploited a critical, patched vulnerability in Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) routers, which allowed them to gain root-level remote code execution access. The breach enabled the hackers to tunnel into telecom infrastructure, remain undetected, and potentially intercept global communications traffic. Canadian authorities and the FBI have acknowledged the malicious activity targeting telecom firms across Canada. Separately, the FBI has issued warnings about a prolific cybercriminal group named Scattered Spider expanding its operations to the airline and transportation sectors in North America. This group uses sophisticated social engineering tactics, including impersonating employees and contractors to deceive IT help desks and bypass multi-factor authentication without deploying malware. At least two North American airlines have reported being victims of these cyberattacks. Cybersecurity experts have described this as a coordinated campaign against the aviation industry, highlighting the increasing threat posed by such cybercriminal groups to critical infrastructure sectors.