Firm Uncovers Major Cyber-Espionage Campaign Against Telcos

### Executive Summary Cybereason reported Operation Soft Cell, a persistent, likely China-linked APT campaign targeting global telecommunications providers to steal call-detail records, credentials, billing data, and user geolocation. Attackers used a modified China Chopper web shell on exposed IIS servers to perform reconnaissance, lateral movement, full Active Directory compromise, and data exfiltration; the intrusion persisted over months with multiple resurgences, posing high risk to telecom infrastructure and privacy.