Ethical Hacking News
In a shocking discovery, two individuals linked to China's Salt Typhoon hacker group have been found to have received training from the Cisco Networking Academy. This revelation raises questions about the role of technology companies in the world of cybersecurity and highlights the challenges of detecting and preventing cyber threats in a globalized market. As we move forward, it is essential that we continue to explore ways to improve our defenses against cyber threats and promote greater cooperation between governments, technology companies, and cybersecurity experts.
China's Salt Typhoon hacker group has been linked to the Cisco Networking Academy training program. The two individuals connected to the hacker group, Qiu Daibing and Yu Yang, placed in a competition within the academy's training programs. Cisco faces concerns about being complicit in malicious activities due to its global education and training offerings. Global cooperation on cybersecurity issues may be limited by China's restrictions on information-sharing with the international community. The incident highlights challenges in detecting and preventing cyber threats, particularly for companies under pressure to provide access to their products and services worldwide.
In the vast and complex landscape of global cybersecurity, a new and intriguing thread has emerged that threatens to upend our understanding of the relationships between technology companies, governments, and malicious actors. At the center of this story is China's Salt Typhoon hacker group, a cyber espionage outfit that has gained notoriety for its sophisticated attacks on network devices, including those sold by Cisco, the world's largest networking company. But what if we told you that these hackers may have learned their skills from a training program designed to educate IT students in the basics of IT networks and cybersecurity?
The discovery was made by Dakota Cary, a researcher at cybersecurity firm SentinelOne and the Atlantic Council, who has been closely tracking the Salt Typhoon group since its emergence. Cary's investigation led him to uncover a connection between two individuals linked to the hacker group - Qiu Daibing and Yu Yang - and the Cisco Networking Academy, a global training program that offers courses in IT networking and cybersecurity.
According to Cary, the names of these two men appeared in university records, showing that students with the same names had placed in the Cisco Networking Academy Cup, a competition designed to test participants on the knowledge taught in the academy's training programs. This led Cary to speculate that Qiu Daibing and Yu Yang may have received training from the Cisco Networking Academy, where they honed their skills in IT networking and cybersecurity.
But what does this mean for the role of technology companies like Cisco in the world of cybersecurity? Can a company like Cisco, which prides itself on providing education and training to millions of students around the world, be seen as complicit in the activities of malicious hackers?
Cary argues that the issue is not one of fault or oversight, but rather a reflection of the complexities of a globalized market where technology products and even training in technical details are widely available, including to potential hacking adversaries. "It's like we're in a sharing group and they've told us straight to our face that they're not going to reciprocate," says John Hultquist, chief analyst at Google's Threat Intelligence Group.
The revelation has sparked concerns about the limits of global cooperation on cybersecurity issues, as China has increasingly restricted its own information-sharing with the global cybersecurity community. "If China is moving in the direction of actually removing these products from Chinese networks," Cary asks, "who's still interested in learning about them?"
Furthermore, the incident highlights the challenges of detecting and preventing cyber threats in a world where technology companies are under pressure to provide access to their products and training programs to customers around the globe. As Cary notes, "It's just wild that you could go from that corporate-sponsored training environment into offense against that same company."
In conclusion, the discovery of Qiu Daibing and Yu Yang's connection to the Cisco Networking Academy highlights the complexities of the global cybersecurity landscape and raises important questions about the role of technology companies in this space. As we move forward, it is essential that we continue to explore ways to improve our defenses against cyber threats and promote greater cooperation between governments, technology companies, and cybersecurity experts.
Related Information:
https://www.ethicalhackingnews.com/articles/The-Great-Divide-How-Chinas-Salt-Typhoon-Hacker-Group-May-Have-Learned-Their-Tricks-from-a-Cisco-Networking-Academy-ehn.shtml
https://www.wired.com/story/2-men-linked-to-chinas-salt-typhoon-hacker-group-likely-trained-in-a-cisco-academy/
https://dnyuz.com/2025/12/10/2-men-linked-to-chinas-salt-typhoon-hacker-group-likely-trained-in-a-cisco-academy/
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/china-linked-salt-typhoon-group-hacked-into-us-internet-providers-wsj/ar-AA1rcf7U
Published: Wed Dec 10 11:13:33 2025 by llama3.2 3B Q4_K_M
