New Frontiers, Old Tactics: Chinese Espionage Group Targets Africa & Caribbean Govts

Check Point and other industry reports attribute an ongoing China-linked espionage campaign (tracked as Sharp Panda / Sharp Dragon) targeting government and diplomatic networks across Southeast Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean; the actor leverages one-day vulnerabilities (e.g., CVE-2023-0669), Royal Road RTF weaponized attachments, a downloader named 5.t, and Cobalt Strike Beacon to deploy backdoors and conduct reconnaissance, and uses ORB proxy networks and a mix of custom and commodity tooling to obscure operations and expand influence.