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Read up on more of our findings plus some extra goodies involving CyberStrikeAI by going here 4/4 : netaskari.substack.com/p/qinghai-br...

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But apart from pen-test reports, vulnerability protocols and exploit documentation, there are also some interesting charts of provincial network design and infrastructure elements. 3/4

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Most likely conducted by the company VenusTech, which is known for having close relations to CN government bodies, it showed significant failures by using weak or default credentials, outdated firm- and software and a lack of proper network separation, making lateral moves rather trivial. 2/4

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Marc Hofer @marchofer.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

How good is China's own cyber defense when it comes to government owned infrastructure you might ask yourself at times !? Well, thanks to a hack of an extensive cyber defense drill for the province of Qinghai, we know more. 1/4

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Do Chinese security institutions spy on ZOOM calls of international users ? Well, NetAskari has an anecdote that raises questions: netaskari.substack.com/p/does-the-c...

Marc Hofer @marchofer.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Teaming up with Hunt.io NetAskari got a glimpse into the rapidly expanding landscape of Chinese rapid-malware-construction-kits for malicious Android Apps. Often one stop-shop setups with minimal skill requirements: various-yard-748589--new-blog-flying-bul8h8gss.framer.app/blog/flying-...

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Marc Hofer @marchofer.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

A dataset we received via Hunt.io shows that Claude ( old models ) is still tricked into playing "CTF" against actual live targets today in an attempt to hack into systems ( though it seems mainly old model version ) : open.substack.com/pub/netaskar...

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Marc Hofer @marchofer.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Read the full investigation on the ‘Ghostwave' dashboard here 3/3 : netaskari.substack.com/p/ghostwave-...

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Marc Hofer @marchofer.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Live operational “launch page” templates were found for Crypto-Stealing-operations and exploit testing . 2/3

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Marc Hofer @marchofer.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Brief access to an unsecured dashboard that showed the live orchestration of a framework to set up ‘water hole attacks’ via Coruna/Darksword exploit-chains, demonstrates how this powerful spy tool is now cleary part of the mass-cyber-crime ecosystem. 1/3

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Marc Hofer @marchofer.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

“Talking Tom” a hardware version of a popular video game and interactive app character, harbors a Chinese LLM that has strict censorship instructions on topics like Taiwan and Xi Jinping’s rule. We did get an insight into its training regiment. Read the report: netaskari.substack.com/p/tom-cat-or...

Marc Hofer @marchofer.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

Surfilter is a company that has grown extensively along the Belt&Road and is suspected to have been deployed in foreign countries as well. It's former parent company is ZTE. Their business in 2025 didn’t look rosy though. 2/2

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Marc Hofer @marchofer.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

Surfilter, a Chinese company building hardware firewall systems mainly for the government, had it's firmware binary leaked. A selectionof all the VPNs the system is able to fingerprint ( among many others ) 1/2 : AnyViewer Clash ProtonVPN Tunnelbear TurboVPN V2Ray (and V2RayN) Windscribe …

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Marc Hofer @marchofer.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Meet ‘ZRON’, a full intelligence collection-analysis tool chain, offered by a Chinese company. A recent hack, offered on a CN dark web forum, delivers a fascinating insight into a toolbox of which we have seen echo's before. One-stop-shop, full service and AI enabled.: substack.com/home/post/p-...

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Marc Hofer @marchofer.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

We talked with Dr. Valentin Weber about his research on secure messenger services inside the PLA, their flaws and limitation and how a system obsessed with surveillance, even compromises on security to keep tabs on what their soldiers talk about: open.substack.com/pub/netaskar...

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Marc Hofer @marchofer.bsky.social · 12/01/2026

See how Chinese red-team / pen-testers see China's e-government infrastructure and witness how they assess security flaws in the govt run service infrastructure ( has diagrams and pictures ) : tinyurl.com/ynp4ahzk

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Read the full report here 9/9: netaskari.substack.com/p/chinas-gua...

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5. Provide granular access control to specific files, for user-device combos, based on daily use and launching alerts if those rules are broken. Even enabling automated shutdown of client system if rule breaking is detected. 8/9

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4. Monitor http, ftp and smtp traffic from a client to see for example if the user logs into web email systems ( and stores login to those systems ) or if otherwise trying to get files "off device". 7/9

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3. Provide an enumeration and overview of confidential files found on a client machine plus the ability to remotely delete them by an administrator or supervisor. 6/9

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2. Scan content on a client along a combination of list-fed and hardcoded keywords, especially text based documents ( docx, pdf, http, txt, md, xlsx etc. ) 5/9

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1. Kill processes that might jeopardize or bypass the tool's ability to oversee the data integrity of a client system. 4/9

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It was build by the well known Chinese cyber security government SuperRed but relies heavily on open source technology to provide its core functionality. 3/9

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Designed mainly for WinXP and Win7, it lodges itself rather deep inside the system to have full file system access, controls hardware/USB devices, dynamic content analysis and enumeration, provides network traffic proxies and enables remote control and granular file behavior. 2/9

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Marc Hofer @marchofer.bsky.social · 04/01/2026

We got our hand on a Chinese DLP program the government and national security agencies use to monitor state employees computers for leakage and usage of confidential documents. Meet 保密管理系统. 1/9

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Why do so little internal documents leak from China, compared to its sizable digital administrative infrastructure ? NetAskari got their hands on an internal document monitoring and control software for government workstations: open.substack.com/pub/netaskar...

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Marc Hofer @marchofer.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

As the year is coming to an end, here are our picks of the five best stories on netaskari.online . If you have some time over the holidays, please check them out: open.substack.com/pub/netaskar...

Marc Hofer @marchofer.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

An example of an HikVision powered neighborhood surveillance and access-control system, that you can find all across China's cities. In the past often stand-alone, they are increasingly getting integrated into the nation wide "Sharp eyes" ( 雪亮 ) project.

Marc Hofer @marchofer.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

Read our primer on how the big-data analysis system operated by the Chinese police can track people across country, via having almost real time access to their means of travel, bank account activities, phone calls and online activity. netaskari.substack.com/p/smart-poli...

Marc Hofer @marchofer.bsky.social · 26/11/2025

China’s hacking training grounds, gunning or foreign nations’ critical infrastructure: tinyurl.com/y67z79ve

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Marc Hofer @marchofer.bsky.social · 02/10/2025

Xinjiang 912: The evolution of the Great Firewall forged in one of the world’s most surveilled and controlled regions. open.substack.com/pub/netaskar...

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Marc Hofer @marchofer.bsky.social · 30/09/2025

We took a stroll among the less sexy “study” documents of MESA Lab but still found some interesting little nuggets on the future of China’s cyber strategy and developments : open.substack.com/pub/netaskar...

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Marc Hofer @marchofer.bsky.social · 22/09/2025

Selling China's Great Firewall to the world: a series of unprecedented data and document leaks lift the curtain on China's global surveillance and censorship business ( built with the help of some western big tech players too ). open.substack.com/pub/netaskar...

Marc Hofer @marchofer.bsky.social · 12/09/2025

We did a little bit of an analysis of a leaked project mindmap that according to us, reveals some internals of a Chinese network range, operated by the Ministry of Public Security.

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Marc Hofer @marchofer.bsky.social · 06/09/2025

Check out the report here: tinyurl.com/mvxstdee

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Marc Hofer @marchofer.bsky.social · 12/08/2025

Kimsuky or not Kimsuky ? A leak of data from a VM and a VPS reveals operations of an APT that was first attributed to North Korea, but might be actually a Chinese operation. substack.com/@netaskari/n...

Marc Hofer @marchofer.bsky.social · 28/07/2025

NetAskari has an anonymous “dead drop” now. If you have information, leaks or want to reach out without exposing yourself go to: deaddrop.netaskari.online .

Marc Hofer @marchofer.bsky.social · 25/07/2025

Public documents, recently released from the Xinjiang Police College reveals how China is building its "Cyber Ranges" and trains its cyber operatives working for the Ministry of Public Security. open.substack.com/pub/netaskar...

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Marc Hofer @marchofer.bsky.social · 24/07/2025

The export controls to China seem to work swimmingly …

Marc Hofer @marchofer.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

Read the full story on the SLAPP procedure against freewechat.com on here 6/6 : open.substack.com/pub/netaskar...

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Marc Hofer @marchofer.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

The process was initiated by the company GROUP-IB, a Singaporean based cyber security firm that claims to focus on cyber crime but also runs a unit that deals with "brand protection". 2/6

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Marc Hofer @marchofer.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

A “SLAPP case" against Freewechat.com has initiated the temporary de-hosting of the anti-censorship platform via an IP infringement claim. 🧵 1/ 6

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Marc Hofer @marchofer.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

Newsletter #3: Security on Chinese hardware and software, unorthodox “sanctions evasion”and more: open.substack.com/pub/netaskar...

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Marc Hofer @marchofer.bsky.social · 05/06/2025

Read it here: netaskari.substack.com/p/biweekly-n...

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Marc Hofer @marchofer.bsky.social · 05/06/2025

NetAskari.online newsletter #2: Bounty on Taiwanese hackers, TP-Link hardware scare, revoked TLS certificates and the GFW little brothers.

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Marc Hofer @marchofer.bsky.social · 28/05/2025

Read here on the how a tighter net to monitor data traffic on a provincial level in China can lead to more efficient control while sniffing out “malicious” actors quicker. open.substack.com/pub/netaskar...