By Kanishka Singh and Jasper Ward
WASHINGTON, July 8 (Reuters)
It has come to the attention of the U.S. government that a Chinese man was involved in some cyber theft activities during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and while he was not alone, it has now come to the surface, and he has the potential to face serious criminal charges. Fast forward to 2025, the Chinese man has been arrested. Although this is not yet a sealed matter because of various explanations and a lack of concrete evidence, it looks like something is being investigated, and if the allegations are true, then we are looking at a big cyber issue.
The arrested Chinese man is a victim of mistaken identity
The U.S. Department of Justice said on Tuesday that a Chinese state-sponsored contract hacker was arrested last week in Italy at the request of Washington, but the arrested man claimed he is a victim of mistaken identity. Xu Zewei, 33, was arrested on July 3, the Justice Department said, adding a nine-count indictment was unsealed on Tuesday in the Southern District of Texas.
This information alleges the involvement of that individual and a co-defendant in computer intrusions between February 2020 and June 2021. Xu was arrested in Milan, Italy, and will face extradition proceedings, the DOJ said in a statement. It alleged China’s Ministry of State Security had directed the theft of COVID-19 research and the exploitation of Microsoft MSFT.O email software vulnerabilities.
The Chinese government has refused the allegations, but the U.S. is still pursuing the matter
John A. Eisenberg, Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division, said,
“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. The Justice Department will find you and hold you accountable for threatening our cybersecurity and harming our people and institutions.”
The Chinese government has previously denied allegations of being involved. Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for China’s embassy in Washington, said that China opposes all forms of cyber crimes, adding that “China has neither the need nor the intention to acquire vaccines through so-called theft.” Mao Ning, a spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry, said on Thursday that China opposed “the use of so-called cyber issues to maliciously smear China” when asked about the case in a regular press briefing.
The United States claims he was not alone in this
U.S. authorities allege that he was part of a team of hackers who in 2020 hacked and otherwise targeted U.S.-based universities, immunologists, and virologists conducting research into COVID‑19 vaccines, treatment, and testing. The U.S. Justice Department says a research university located in the Southern District of Texas was also targeted.
The DOJ also says that in 2021, he was part of a cyber-espionage group known as Hafnium, which has alleged ties to the Chinese government and which “exploited zero-day vulnerabilities in U.S. systems to steal additional research.” Whether his identity was mistaken or not, it looks like there is something tied to the man and his co-workers that he worked with during this entire situation.
Since the whole cybercriminal activity is still under investigation, this is a sign that it does not matter how long it takes, but it will always come out. There was something his lawyer said about him losing his phone number in 2020, which was identified to be his. Could it be that he got rid of it, trying to escape, because maybe the U.S. government and authorities started smelling the dead rat then? We do not have all the answers, but we have enough to assume that those could be true matters. Right now, it is just a matter of time until the actual truth surfaces.
GCN.com/Reuters.
