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AT&T CISO Rich Baich said at the September 2025 Google Cloud Cyber Defense Summit that he was seeing adversaries change their methods in ways similar to Salt Typhoon. The behaviors he described target gaps in endpoint monitoring and logging, and misuse administrative tools that defenders already rely on. His remarks, reported by CyberScoop, are an executive’s assessment—not independent proof that specific groups copied Salt Typhoon.
What Baich said was changing
Baich’s warning was about how attackers operate, not a list of named groups confirmed to have imitated Salt Typhoon. CyberScoop reported on September 22, 2025, that Baich said he was seeing adversaries change their methods “very similar to what Salt Typhoon did.” The account did not identify those adversaries or provide separate incident evidence establishing who adopted each behavior.
The report describes three areas of concern: systems with less endpoint monitoring, places where logs or expected controls are missing, and the use of legitimate administrative tools to blend into routine activity. It also notes Baich’s concern that attackers may cover or wipe tracks, complicating digital forensics.
Three techniques defenders should understand
1. Target platforms outside standard EDR coverage
Endpoint detection and response (EDR) is not necessarily deployed across every device or platform in an organization. Baich said attackers were looking for platforms that traditionally lacked EDR, shifting attention beyond conventional, well-monitored endpoints. The defensive question is whether important systems and devices fall outside the organization’s endpoint-protection coverage.
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2. Look for places without logs or enabled controls
Baich described attackers seeking systems or network areas where logs were unavailable or expected controls had not been enabled. In his account, that makes gaps in visibility a potential advantage for an intruder: activity in an unlogged area is harder to detect and reconstruct. He described the search for missing logs as a technique growing in use since the Salt Typhoon attacks; the report does not quantify how widespread it is.
3. Use the victim’s own administrative tools
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What organizations can check
Baich’s recommendations point to practical coverage and control checks, rather than a single product or fix:
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- Map logging gaps: Check where logs are generated, whether they are retained, and which network areas lack expected logging or security controls.
- Inventory administrative tools: Know which tools are present, what legitimate work they support, and who is authorized to use them. Restrict access and use where appropriate.
- Consider forensic visibility: Evaluate whether available records would let investigators reconstruct activity if an attacker attempted to cover or wipe tracks.
These checks address different failure points. More endpoint coverage does not fill a logging gap; more logs do not by themselves restrict powerful administrative tools. Defenders need to understand how their technology is used operationally and how an intruder could misuse that same environment.
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What the warning does—and does not—establish
CyberScoop reported that AT&T had been among the major providers affected by Salt Typhoon and had said it evicted the hackers from its networks. The article gives no technical account, date, or scope for that eviction. It also does not establish how common the described techniques were across the wider threat landscape or demonstrate that particular groups copied Salt Typhoon.
Accordingly, “inspiring” should be read as Baich’s characterization of similar changes in adversary behavior, not as a verified chain of imitation. His broader point was that organizations need to understand both how their technology works and how it could be used against them.
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