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Chinese Fire Ant hackers turn Cisco routers into spying platforms
August 31, 2026 · BleepingComputer · Severity: MEDIUM
The researchers discovered Fire Ant's new tactic after finding an active GRE (Generic Routing Encapsulation) tunnel interface on a Cisco IOS XR router that could not be explained by a running configuration or commit history.
Key Takeaways
- Chinese Fire Ant hackers use hidden GRE tunnels on Cisco routers for espionage.
- Unauthorized GRE interfaces found on IOS XR routers without any configuration history.
- This technique turns trusted network hardware into stealthy, persistent spying platforms.