Officials in Vietnam have attempted to hack United States officials, including those at CNN, through posts on the Chinese social media platform X, according to a report obtained by CNN.
The report, by cybersecurity firm FireEye, says that the Vietnamese hackers attempted to gain access to information stored in the cloud accounts of U.S. officials. The attack was likely meant to monitor ongoing conversations between U.S. officials about Vietnam, including diplomatic discussions or military concerns.
FireEye believes that the Vietnamese hackers may have been hired by the country’s government to carry out the attack. It remains unclear if the hackers were ultimately successful in obtaining any sensitive information.
The attack is believed to have been initiated using the X platform, which has over 200 million monthly active users. X is a remote access trojan for Android devices and is the most popular malicious app available on third-party Android app stores.
FireEye said the hackers likely used X to gain access to the accounts, as well as to set up fake profiles to distribute malware and exfiltrate data. The security firm urged any U.S. officials conducting official business through X to take additional security precautions, such as regularly changing passwords and regularly monitoring their accounts for suspicious activity.
The attack comes as the U.S. and Vietnam have fostered an increasingly close alliance in recent years, especially in the face of Chinese aggression in the region. The two countries have bonded over shared sentiments of democracy, human rights, and technological innovation.
