The US government has issued an emergency directive to defend federal networks against a group of advanced hackers who have breached at least one agency in what appears to be a state-backed espionage campaign. The hackers, believed by private experts to be based in China, have been exploiting previously unknown flaws in Cisco software for several months.
Government officials have not confirmed the identity of the hackers, but cyber firms like Palo Alto Networks say they are likely state-sponsored. The directive aims to help agencies understand the full scope of the compromise and will require them to update their software by Friday.
Cisco has also discovered new vulnerabilities that the hackers were exploiting, urging its customers to patch up their systems immediately. The British government has warned about a similar hacking campaign, calling the malicious code used by the hackers a “significant evolution” from previous tools.
The incident is just days after researchers revealed another suspected Chinese hacking team had infiltrated US software developers and law firms in an effort to collect intelligence.
Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2025/09/25/politics/hackers-breach-us-government