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A New Wave of Cyber Intrusion Threatens Canadian National Security
The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, in coordination with the FBI, has issued a stark warning about a persistent cyber espionage campaign linked to the Chinese advanced persistent threat (APT) group Salt Typhoon. This campaign specifically targets telecommunications providers in Canada, forming part of a broader global espionage effort. With the cyber group believed to be state-sponsored by the Peopleâs Republic of China (PRC), the scale and intent behind these intrusions raise serious national security concerns.
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Over the past one to two years, Salt Typhoon has maintained a steady and stealthy campaign targeting telecom infrastructure in dozens of countries. According to U.S. officials and intelligence reports from security firm Recorded Futureâs Insikt Group, this group has notably breached telecommunications networks in the United States and Canada using vulnerabilities in Ciscoâs IOS XE systems. Two specific CVEsâCVE-2023-20198 and CVE-2023-20273âhave been exploited to compromise these critical systems.
In February 2025, Canadaâs Cyber Centre reported that Salt Typhoon successfully infiltrated three network devices belonging to a Canadian telecom provider. They extracted running configuration files and established a GRE tunnel (Generic Routing Encapsulation), enabling the siphoning of internal network traffic. The exploitation of CVE-2023-20198 was central to this intrusion.
Beyond telecom, the threat actors appear to be mapping networks and conducting reconnaissance, potentially preparing for future attacks or targeting associated sectors. This aligns with findings from U.S. intelligence agencies. Anne Neuberger, President Bidenâs deputy national security adviser, revealed in late 2024 that eight U.S. telecom companies were infiltrated, and the attackers collected extensive metadata and communication patterns, particularly those involving political and government figures.
Reports also suggest that Salt Typhoon has targeted satellite communication firms like Viasat, reflecting a broad interest in all forms of secure communications. These findings underscore the groupâs expanding scope and the long-term persistence of their espionage operations.
What Undercode Say:
The Salt Typhoon operation is emblematic of modern cyber espionageâcovert, sophisticated, and state-backed. The choice of targets is not coincidental. Telecommunications infrastructure forms the backbone of national security, diplomacy, and civil society communication. By exploiting critical vulnerabilities in widely used Cisco systems, Salt Typhoon demonstrates both technical prowess and a long-term strategic aim: persistent access to global communications data.
The use of GRE tunnels reveals a desire to maintain stealthy, prolonged access without triggering conventional security alarms. GRE tunnels allow for encrypted tunneling of intercepted data, making attribution and detection even harder. This is not just a smash-and-grab operationâit is about strategic persistence and quiet surveillance.
Canadaâs involvement in this wave of attacks reflects the geopolitical reality that no ally of the U.S. is immune from foreign cyber threats. Canada plays a key role in Five Eyes intelligence sharing, and compromising its telecoms could provide adversaries with access to a broader data pipeline.
Moreover, Salt Typhoonâs operations signify a shift from generic cybercrime to geopolitical cyber targeting. The group is not chasing ransomware payments or quick profitsâthey are extracting metadata, communication logs, and strategic intelligence. This kind of data, while seemingly mundane, can be weaponized for political blackmail, influence campaigns, or military strategy.
The presence of unpatched Cisco vulnerabilities, even in 2025, also indicates a failure in proactive cybersecurity posturing among critical infrastructure providers. Despite years of advisories and increasing budget allocations to cybersecurity, major telecom providers remain vulnerable to known flawsâthis raises urgent questions about oversight and accountability in national cyber defense strategies.
Additionally, the targeting of Viasat suggests the next frontier: space-based and satellite communications espionage. As satellite internet becomes mainstream and nations rely on these systems for battlefield and disaster response communication, attackers are pivoting to control and intercept this new medium.
Salt Typhoonâs long campaign is a loud signal for governments worldwide to treat telecommunications cybersecurity as a matter of national defense, not just IT hygiene.
đ Fact Checker Results
â Verified: CVE-2023-20198 and CVE-2023-20273 are known Cisco vulnerabilities exploited in active attacks.
â Confirmed: Canadian telecoms were breached using one of the Cisco flaws, with GRE tunnels created for data exfiltration.
â Reliable: The U.S. government confirmed that Salt Typhoon breached at least eight U.S. telecom providers, targeting sensitive political metadata.
đ Prediction:
Given the increasing reliance on digital infrastructure for national communications, espionage groups like Salt Typhoon will escalate attacks not just on telecoms but cloud service providers, satellite communication platforms, and data centers. Expect more cross-sector breaches, particularly against entities involved in government communications, elections, and international diplomacy. Canada and its allies must prepare for a sustained two-year wave of cyber intrusions targeting core communications and intelligence-sharing infrastructure.
References:
Reported By: securityaffairs.com
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