By Emma Woollacott
Publication Date: 2025-12-11 12:10:00
Two key players in the notorious Salt Typhoon hacker group are former Cisco Network Academy trainees, according to researchers at SentinelLabs.
An investigation by the firm suggests Yu Yang and Qiu Daibing used their insider product knowledge to compromise telecoms systems in one of the largest intelligence-gathering operations of the decade.
Salt Typhoon collected unencrypted calls and texts between US presidential candidates, key staffers, and China experts.
The Cisco Network Academy began in 1997 and entered the Chinese market in 1998. It has now trained more than 200,000 students in China – most, of course, perfectly reputable.
Qiu and Yu were apparently top students at the 2012 Cisco Network Academy Cup, representing Southwest Petroleum University. However, a little sleuthing revealed that the pair are co-owners of Beijing Huanyu Tianqiong, with Yu also tied to Sichuan Zhixin Ruijie.
Both of these companies were named in a Salt Typhoon cybersecurity advisory by US authorities.
