Volt Typhoon (also known as Bronze Silhouette or Vanguard Panda).
is a specific compressed archive file identified by international cybersecurity agencies as an artifact associated with Volt Typhoon , a state-sponsored cyber actor based in the People's Republic of China (PRC). Overview of Activity
According to a joint cybersecurity advisory by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) , this file is used by threat actors as part of "living off the land" (LotL) techniques. These techniques involve using legitimate system tools and files to blend in with normal network activity and avoid detection by security software. Key Characteristics SS-Bet-001_s.7z
Audit 7z.exe executions, especially those involving temporary or public directories.
The actor uses the 7z.exe utility to compress and password-protect stolen data before exfiltrating it from the victim's network. Volt Typhoon (also known as Bronze Silhouette or
Security professionals monitor for the execution of commands like 7z.exe a -p {REDACTED} c:\windows\temp\SS-Bet-001_s.7z . Because the file name often follows specific patterns or remains consistent across different victims, its presence is a high-confidence indicator of a compromise. Mitigations
To protect against activity involving this artifact, organizations are encouraged to: These techniques involve using legitimate system tools and
Restrict the use of administrator accounts and audit any use of built-in Windows tools for non-administrative tasks.