In the first quarter of 2023, SentinelLabs researchers spotted the initial phases of attacks against telecommunication providers in the Middle East.

According to the researchers, the activity is part of the Operation Soft Cell that was first reported in June 2019 by Cybereason.

At the time, researchers at Cybereason uncovered the long-running espionage campaign tracked as Operation Soft Cell. Threat actors were targeting telco providers. Tactics, techniques, and procedures, and the type of targets suggest the involvement of a nation-state actor likely linked to Chinese APT10.