Researcher claims Salt Typhoon spies attended Cisco training scheme

A security researcher specializing in tracking China threats claims two of Salt Typhoon's members were former attendees of a training scheme run by Cisco.

SentinelLabs' Dakota Cary linked Yu Yang and Qiu Daibing, two alleged members of the Chinese state hacking group, to participants of the 2012 Cisco Networking Academy Cup.

The initiative is still going today. It typically runs for a few months and is geared toward beginners learning foundational cybersecurity skills, which are then tested in competitions like capture the flag events.

Both Yu and Qiu are co-owners of Beijing Huanyu Tianqiong, one of the Chinese tech companies that international security advisories specify as being fronts for Salt Typhoon activity.

Digging into their pasts, Cary found that Yu and Qiu represented Southwest Petroleum University in Cisco's academy cup in China. Yu's team placed second in the Sichuan region, while Qiu's team won it and ...