Exclusive A novel China-linked threat group infiltrated more than a dozen critical networks in Poland, Asian countries, and possibly beyond, beginning in December 2024 and with activity uncovered as recently as this month. I'm concerned about what they are leaving behind: What type of C2 on a sleep cycle is still lingering in these environments? In a report shared exclusively with The Register , TrendAI researchers say the new group, which they track as Shadow-Earth-053, targeted government agencies, defense contractors, technology firms, and the transportation industry. The Chinese spies typically gain initial access to victim environments via vulnerable Microsoft Exchange Servers.  In "multiple" of these intrusions, they compromised victim organizations up to 8 months before deploying ShadowPad , a custom backdoor used by China's APT41 for almost a decade, and shared among multiple China-aligned groups since 2019.…