The article “Enhanced Visibility and Hardening Guidance for Communications Infrastructure” addresses a significant cybersecurity threat from actors affiliated with the People’s Republic of China (PRC), who have reportedly compromised networks of major global telecommunications providers to execute a broad cyber espionage campaign. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), along with other international agencies, has developed a guide for network engineers and defenders to enhance the security of communication infrastructures.

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The guide emphasizes the importance of visibility in monitoring and detecting network activity, recommending practices such as scrutinizing configuration changes, implementing strong network flow monitoring solutions, and maintaining centralized logging systems.

Network engineers should monitor for unauthorized changes, limit management traffic exposure, and store all device configurations centrally. Network defenders must establish robust monitoring capabilities, understand the infrastructure architecture, and manage device exposure effectively. This guidance aims to reduce vulnerabilities and create a more secure communications environment against threats from PRC-affiliated groups and malicious actors.