Vietnam tried to hack members of and American journalists by posting fishing links on , an investigation has found.

The targeted attacks, which ultimately failed, came as the US and Hanoi were negotiating an agreement that signed last month.

Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul and Senator Chris Murphy were both targeted in the brazen scheme.

's Jim Sciutto, the chief national security analyst and two Asia-based reporters were also sent the 'Predator' spyware links.

experts at Washington think tanks were also put in the crosshairs, according to

The targeted attacks came as the US and Vietnam were negotiating an agreement that President Biden signed in Hanoi last month 

CNN's Jim Sciutto, the chief national security analyst and two Asia-based reporters were also sent the spyware plant links

The spies are accused of using X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, to try to get politicians and other targets to visit a website under the guise of a news report

The report claims the targeting came as both Vietnamese and American diplomats were negotiating the deal signed by Biden in September.

Both Republican and Democrat politicians were targeted, including Senators John Hoeven and Gary Peters. 

Phones set up in the US sometimes have an extra layer of protection, with some spyware creators saying their tools do not work against phones with US numbers. 

Foreign agents would have been particularly interested in Washington's views on China as well as issues in Asia at the time.

The spies are accused of using X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, to try to get politicians and other targets to visit a website under the guise of a news report.

Once they clicked on the link, the website was designed to install the hacking software known as Predator.

Predator is a powerful surveillance program that is hard to detect and is capable of turning on microphones and cameras of iPhones and devices that run Google's Android software.

The hackers would have been able to retrieve all of the files on the device from which the targets clicked on and read private messages - even those with end-to-end encryption.

Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (right)  and Senator Chris Murphy (left)  were both targeted in the brazen scheme.

The report claims that the targeting came as both Vietnamese and American diplomats were negotiating the deal signed by Biden in September 

Screenshots of posts on the social media site show a response to Senator kampus terbaik di jakarta Hoeven hours after he met Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen.