June 17 (Reuters) - Viasat Inc ( VSAT ) has been

identified as a victim of the Chinese-linked Salt Typhoon

cyberespionage operation during last year's presidential

campaign, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday.

The breach at the satellite communications firm was

discovered earlier this year and Viasat ( VSAT ) has been working with

the government in the aftermath, the report said, citing people

familiar with the matter.

Viasat ( VSAT ) did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for

comment on the report.

U.S. officials have previously alleged that hackers targeted

telecom companies such as Verizon, AT&T ( T ), Lumen

, and others, stealing telephone audio intercepts along

with a significant amount of call record data.

In December, the officials added a ninth unnamed telecom

company to the list of entities compromised by the Salt Typhoon

hackers and said that the Chinese operatives gained access to

networks with broad and full access, enabling them to "geolocate

millions of individuals, to record phone calls at will".

Targets of Salt Typhoon reportedly included officials

connected to the presidential campaigns of both Democrat Kamala

Harris and Republican Donald Trump.

Chinese officials have previously dismissed the allegations

as disinformation, asserting that Beijing "firmly opposes and

combats cyber attacks and cyber theft in all forms".