I think the key take-away is that maybe by reverting to old techniques we haven't seen a lot of for a long time, they're escaping a lot of detection.
This is a very simple technique but it is effective against simple heuristics that use string analysis of all incoming email attachments, and this is reflected in a very low VT detection https://www.virustotal.com/en/file/c916540dcab796e7c034bfd948c54d9b87665c62334d8fea8d3724d9b1e9cfc9/analysis/1403955807/
http://threatpost.com/mobile-broadband-modems-seen-as-easy-targets-for-attackers/107619
You're aware that your cell phone can be hacked, so you take precautions. A mobile broadband modem is as the article puts it: “These devices are basically just cell phones that you can’t make a call with,”.
http://threatpost.com/pervasive-ota-carrier-controls-exploitable-on-a-massive-scale/107623
This is perhaps the scariest of the 3 linked articles. If the researchers who presented at the Black Hat conference are correct, the almost complete control cell phone carriers have over their devices is very subject to being taken over by bad guys.