- Engineer — Act: Fire Ant is actively implanting GRE tunnel interfaces on Cisco IOS XR routers that persist invisibly outside running configuration and commit history — audit all IOS XR devices for unexplained GRE interfaces and cross-check interface state against configuration databases.
- SOC/IR — Act: Active Chinese APT campaign against network edge devices warrants an assume-breach sweep; hunt for GRE tunnel interfaces on IOS XR routers that lack corresponding config entries, and look for anomalous GRE-encapsulated flows in NetFlow or firewall logs.
- Leader — Plan: A Chinese state-sponsored actor is using Cisco IOS XR routers as persistent espionage platforms — confirm whether IOS XR is in your environment, task the network team with an audit, and flag this to leadership given the espionage implications for sensitive traffic traversing core routing infrastructure.