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CN·HNHuWang—“Protect the Network”: Inside China’s Largest Nationwide Live-Fire Cyber Exercise

Every year, tens of thousands of Chinese organizations spend weeks bracing for an attack that could come at any hour, from any direction, with no advance warning of when or how – standing watch around the clock to defend their networks. The exercise is known as HuWang Operation (护网行动, hù wǎng , literally “protect the network”), or simply HW. Organized by the Ministry of Public Security (MPS), HW has evolved from a limited pilot covering “some important industries” into an annual nationwide stres

CN·WCWidening the Circle of Chinese Hacker Group QTFY: ELEX's Intelligence Client List and Lexbell's PLA Contracts

On August 26, 2026, the FBI, NSA, and U.S. Cyber Command’s Cyber National Mission Force released a joint cybersecurity advisory on China-linked hacking group QTFY, attributing it to Nanjing Xinjiuwei Network Technology Co. (XJW) (南京鑫玖维网络科技有限公司). Since at least 2018, QTFY has allegedly developed malicious tooling, traded malware and exploits within freelance hacking networks, established and maintained an obfuscation botnet, and targeted a wide range of U.S. government and critical-infrastructure