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Xu Zewei, Chinese State-Sponsored Hacking, Texas 2023
A 33-year-old Chinese national has been taken into custody for his alleged involvement in U.S. computer intrusions between February 2020 and June 2021, including the reckless and indiscriminate HAFNIUM campaign that compromised thousands of computers worldwide.
Authorities took People’s Republic of China (PRC) national Xu Zewei (徐泽伟) into custody in Milan, Italy, as he departed a plane from China at the request of the United States.
Xu is charged along with PRC national Zhang Yu (张宇), 44, in a now unsealed nine-count indictment returned in November 2023. They were both involved in computer intrusions between February 2020 and June 2021 at the direction of officers of the PRC’s Ministry of State Security’s (MSS) Shanghai State Security Bureau (SSSB), according to the indictment.
The charges allege MSS and SSSB are PRC intelligence services responsible for PRC’s domestic counterintelligence, non-military foreign intelligence and aspects of the PRC’s political and domestic security. When conducting the computer intrusions, Xu worked for Shanghai Powerock Network Co. Ltd., one of many “enabling” companies in the PRC that conducted hacking for the PRC government, according to the charges.
“The indictment alleges that Xu was hacking and stealing crucial COVID-19 research at the behest of the Chinese government while that same government was simultaneously withholding information about the virus and its origins,” said Nicholas Ganjei, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas. “The Southern District of Texas has been waiting years to bring Xu to justice and that day is nearly at hand. As this case shows, even if it takes years, we will track hackers down and make them answer for their crimes. The United States does not forget.”
This arrest underscores the United States’ patient and tireless commitment to pursuing hackers who seek to steal information belonging to U.S. companies and universities, said John A. Eisenberg, Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division. “The Justice Department will find you and hold you accountable for threatening our cybersecurity and harming our people and institutions,” he added.
“While the world was reeling from a virus that originated in China, the Chinese government plotted to steal U.S. research critical to vaccine development,” said FBI Houston Special Agent in Charge Douglas Williams. “Xu Zewei, an alleged hacker acting on behalf of China’s primary spy agency, targeted COVID-19 data using sophisticated cyber techniques and tradecraft. His landmark arrest by FBI Houston agents in Italy proves that we will scour the ends of the Earth to hold criminal foreign adversaries accountable.”
Key Facts
- State: Texas
- Category: Cybercrime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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