Chinese nation-state hackers are leveraging compromised devices as entry points for their operations, according to warnings from British, U.S., and other national cybersecurity agencies. These devices, including small office home office routers, IoT equipment, and smart devices, are being used to route malicious traffic, ultimately leading to a loss of visibility into indicators of compromise (IoC). The use of hacked devices enables Chinese hackers to expand their reach and obscure their tracks, making it more challenging for security teams to detect and respond to threats. This tactic allows state-aligned threat actors to raise the stakes from mere criminal activity to geopolitically motivated operations1. The implications of this strategy extend far beyond the immediate target, posing a significant risk to global security. So what matters to practitioners is that these hacked devices can serve as unsuspecting gateways for sophisticated threats, underscoring the need for robust device security and monitoring.