This is your Tech Shield: US vs China Updates podcast.It’s Ting here, and trust me, you’re going to want your firewalls—and your snacks—ready because the US-China cyber chess match just served up a week hotter than a Sichuan hotpot. Let’s get into the thick of it. The big showstopper: CISA’s workforce is furloughed due to the government shutdown, which means the US’s main cyber sentinels are on forced vacation. Bad timing, since this week also saw Unit 42 at Palo Alto Networks unmask Phantom Taurus—a new Chinese APT group that is not just stealing emails, but diving straight into critical US infrastructure and government databases with a malware suite called NET-STAR, loaded for stealth and persistence. Phantom Taurus isn’t messing around; they’re dropping fileless backdoors onto IIS web servers, which makes detection insanely difficult, leaving traditional endpoint security about as effective as an umbrella in a typhoon, according to Assaf Dahan at Cortex XDR.That’s not all. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency still managed to fire off an emergency order despite the shutdown, telling US agencies to patch a gnarly new Microsoft Exchange hybrid vulnerability—and to get it done yesterday. The kicker: a zero-day in VMware just got patched as well, and researchers told CyberWire it had been exploited under the radar for nearly a year. For extra spice, Cisco is warning about two 9.9-rated zero-days in ASA and FTD VPN web servers, which Chinese-linked groups have already targeted. Emergency mitigation? Absolutely needed.Now, let’s talk US military. In a surprise move, the Department of War just scaled back mandatory cyber training to focus on frontline operations and automation. The brass is betting on: less PowerPoint, more AI. Think the Army’s Big Data Platform, “Gabriel Nimbus”—yep, coolest name ever—which uses machine learning to flag threats in real time. Proponents say this cuts bureaucracy and boosts mission focus. Skeptics, like some eagle-eyed folks at The Register, warn that less training could mean more gaps for adversaries like China to exploit, especially with supply-chain vulnerabilities and zero-days cropping up like weeds.Industry responses this week saw relentless patching parties. Microsoft was out front fixing a sophisticated phishing campaign using large language models—AI writing lures that look human, act human, and finesse SVG obfuscation. Meanwhile, Western Illinois University warned about China-linked PlugX and Bookworm malware still targeting telcos and manufacturers across Asia, and reports keep surfacing on how Beijing’s ambitions aren’t just land and sea—the PLA is expanding anti-satellite capabilities, with ground-based lasers aiming sky-high, as highlighted by Cadet Faith Austin at Duke Lawfire.So, what’s landing and what’s missing? Automation and rapid patching are plugging some holes in the dyke, but the shutdown left big gaps in national response, and reduced human training could turn out to be the weak link adversaries love. We’re seeing major investments in AI-based anomaly detection and automated defenses, but with state-sponsored actors now wielding advanced fileless malware and AI-driven phishing, the US’s cyber shield is holding—for now—but “human-in-the-loop” expertise still can’t be automated away.Thanks for tuning in, listeners! Don’t forget to subscribe for the best in cyber drama and defense. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.For more http://www.quietplease.aiGet the best deals https://amzn.to/3ODvOtaThis content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI

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