US government confirms arrest of Chinese national accused of stealing COVID research and mass-hacking email servers

The U.S. Department of Justice has announced the apprehension of Xu Zewei, a Chinese national accused of being a significant contract hacker engaged in cyber espionage for China. His arrest took place in Italy following a request from U.S. prosecutors. Xu, along with another individual, Zhang Yu, who is still at large, faces a nine-count indictment. They are charged with hacking activities that allegedly involved stealing vital COVID-19 research from American universities back in February 2020. According to the DOJ, Xu was employed by Shanghai Powerock Network, a company purportedly conducting hacking operations on behalf of the Chinese government. In addition to the COVID-related breaches, these hackers are also implicated in extensive cyberattacks on Microsoft Exchange servers that began in March 2021. This group, known publicly as Hafnium, reportedly compromised over 60,000 self-hosted Exchange servers, primarily impacting small businesses throughout the U.S. The breach enabled the theft of sensitive information, including private company emails and address books. Recently, Hafnium has initiated a new cyber campaign termed Silk Typhoon, targeting major corporations and government entities, raising concerns about the ongoing threat posed by their activities.