A recent Forbes article by cybersecurity journalist Davey Winder has shined a harsh light on the growing threat posed by so-called “Chinese Ghost Hackers.”
These threat actors, part of a financially motivated espionage group known as "APT31" or “GHOSTR,” have allegedly infiltrated hospitals and manufacturing facilities across the U.S. and U.K. in a series of persistent attacks that are designed to silently extract sensitive data while maintaining long-term access.
This disturbing campaign has once again exposed a major flaw in many organizations' cybersecurity strategies: an overreliance on the outdated "Detect and Respond" model. By the time many breaches are discovered, the damage is already done — credentials stolen, intellectual property compromised, systems altered.
A Wake-Up Call for Healthcare and Manufacturing
Hospitals and manufacturers are high-value targets. They depend on uptime and data integrity to function, and any disruption can lead to real-world consequences — from delayed surgeries to halted production lines. These industries often struggle with legacy systems, limited IT budgets, and complex vendor ecosystems, making them particularly vulnerable to stealthy cyberattacks like those executed by GHOSTR.
In this latest wave of attacks, the hackers employed spear-phishing and exploitation of known vulnerabilities to breach networks and plant custom malware. Once inside, they stayed hidden for months, silently collecting data and establishing backdoors to retain access.
This wasn't a smash-and-grab ransomware campaign. It was strategic, long-term espionage. And it worked — because the defenses in place weren’t designed to prevent the breach, only to alert teams after it happened.
Why "Detect and Respond" Is Failing Businesses
The cybersecurity industry has long depended on detection-based tools such as antivirus software, endpoint detection and response (EDR), and security information and event management (SIEM) systems. While these solutions play an important role, they are inherently reactive. They assume an attack will succeed — and then attempt to limit the damage.
In the case of the GHOSTR hackers, that approach wasn’t fast enough. Their malware was able to operate undetected, exfiltrate data, and compromise systems before any alarms were raised. Once again, we've seen that sophisticated attackers know how to evade traditional defenses and operate beneath the radar of even advanced EDR systems.
It's Time for "Isolation and Containment"
The only way to stop threats like these is to prevent them from executing in the first place — and that’s where AppGuard comes in.
AppGuard is a proven endpoint protection solution with a decade-long track record of success in mission-critical environments. It doesn’t rely on identifying threats or behaviors. Instead, it uses a patented Isolation and Containment approach that prevents malicious code — even if it’s never been seen before — from executing in the first place.
How? AppGuard enforces strict controls over application behavior, preventing them from performing actions they shouldn’t — like writing to system memory or launching child processes — without ever needing to scan for threats. This keeps both known and unknown malware from gaining a foothold.
In scenarios like the GHOSTR attacks, AppGuard would have blocked malware execution at the endpoint — before the attackers could begin their surveillance or data theft. It wouldn’t have waited to "detect" signs of compromise after the fact.
Proven in Government, Now Available for Business
AppGuard has been used by classified U.S. government agencies for over 10 years — a testament to its unmatched level of trust and performance. It is now commercially available for businesses, including those in high-risk sectors like healthcare, manufacturing, and finance.
If you're a business owner or IT decision-maker, ask yourself: how confident are you that your systems can withstand a months-long stealth campaign from a state-aligned hacker group?
If you're still relying solely on Detect and Respond strategies, it's time for a change.
Contact CHIPS today to learn how AppGuard can protect your business before attackers ever get a foothold. Let's move from Detect and Respond to Isolation and Containment — and stop threats before they start.
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