Breaking News — April 23, 2026
The UK's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC-UK) and international partners have issued a warning that China-nexus hackers are increasingly using large-scale proxy networks of hijacked consumer devices to evade detection and disguise malicious activity.
Key Findings
- Threat actors: China-nexus hackers
- Method: Large-scale proxy networks of hijacked consumer devices
- Purpose: Evasion and obfuscation of malicious activity
- Warning issued by: NCSC-UK and international partners
Consumer Device Targets
The botnets include home routers, smart devices, and other IoT equipment — devices often poorly secured and rarely patched. This gives attackers a massive, distributed infrastructure that's difficult to attribute and takedown.
This tactic represents a shift toward using consumer infrastructure as a force multiplier for state-sponsored operations.
Source: BleepingComputer / NCSC-UK