A man allegedly linked to a series of cyberattacks on behalf of the Chinese government has been extradited to the United States, as confirmed by his legal representative. Xu Zewei, accused by the U.S. Justice Department of functioning as a contractor for China’s Ministry of State Security, reportedly played a part in cyber intrusions targeting U.S. universities in early 2020. The aim was to steal critical COVID-19 related research. Furthermore, Xu, along with co-conspirator Zhang Yu, is implicated in hacking thousands of Microsoft Exchange email servers starting March 2021. This activity forms part of a widespread campaign connected to a Chinese hacking group known as Hafnium, which has also been referred to as Silk Typhoon.
Xu was apprehended in Italy last year following a request from U.S. authorities. His Italian lawyer, Simona Candido, informed TechCrunch that he was extradited to the U.S. and is currently in custody in Houston, Texas. Records from the U.S. Bureau of Prisons indicate that an individual with Xu’s name is housed at the Federal Detention Center in Houston.
In the U.S., Xu’s attorney, Dan Cogdell, was expected to attend a court hearing in Houston, although he learned about it only earlier on the same day. Angela Dodge, a spokesperson for the Southern District of Texas, confirmed receipt of communication regarding Xu’s case but refrained from providing further details.
The U.S. Justice Department has previously stated that Xu was affiliated with Shanghai Powerock Network, a Chinese entity alleged to conduct hacking activities for the Beijing government. Xu and his colleagues reportedly communicated their operations directly with state officials in Shanghai. Together with Zhang, Xu was part of the Hafnium group that exploited undiscovered security weaknesses in Microsoft Exchange servers to infiltrate numerous American organisations, including defence contractors, law firms, and research institutes focused on infectious diseases.
Prosecutors claim that Hafnium targeted over 60,000 entities in the U.S., successfully breaching more than 12,700 of these. The Chinese Embassy in Washington D.C. has yet to respond to any inquiries regarding Xu’s extradition.
Reports indicate that the Chinese Foreign Ministry has voiced strong opposition to Xu’s extradition, labelling U.S. allegations as unfounded. The U.S. government has a history of charging suspected Chinese hackers, many of whom have evaded capture. Notably, in 2022, Yanjun Xu was sentenced to 20 years for espionage after becoming the first Chinese intelligence officer extradited to the U.S. for cyber-related crimes.
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