China spies used Maduro capture as lure to phish US agencies

China spies used Maduro capture as lure to phish US agencies

Chinese cyberspies, linked to Mustang Panda, targeted US government agencies with a phishing campaign exploiting geopolitical events like Maduro’s capture. The campaign involved a backdoor called Lotuslite that could steal data and maintain persistence. #MustangPanda #Lotuslite

Keypoints

  • Chinese espionage group Mustang Panda launched a targeted phishing campaign against US government-related organizations.
  • The campaign used a zip file with a legitimate executable and a hidden backdoor named Lotuslite.
  • Mustang Panda has a history of exploiting geopolitical events, such as Maduro’s detention, to inform their attacks.
  • The Lotuslite malware communicates via a hard-coded server to exfiltrate data and establish persistence.
  • The attackers favor DLL sideloading techniques and execute medium-complexity operations for cyberespionage.

Read More: https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/15/chinese_spies_used_maduros_capture/