{"id":49621,"date":"2025-07-08T20:44:17","date_gmt":"2025-07-08T20:44:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/49621\/"},"modified":"2025-07-08T20:44:17","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T20:44:17","slug":"chinese-hacker-arrested-by-fbi-houston-agents-for-covid-19-data-theft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/49621\/","title":{"rendered":"Chinese hacker arrested by FBI Houston agents for COVID-19 data theft"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.click2houston.com\/topic\/FBI\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.click2houston.com\/topic\/FBI\/\">Houston FBI<\/a> agents have arrested Xu Zewei, a suspected hacker linked to China\u2019s Ministry of State Security, in Milan, Italy. <\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Xu is one of the first hackers tied to Chinese intelligence to be captured by U.S. authorities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">According to an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.click2houston.com\/topic\/FBI\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.click2houston.com\/topic\/FBI\/\">indictment unsealed<\/a> in Nov. 2023, Xu and co-conspirator Zhang Yu were directed by the MSS to target American immunologists, virologists, and institutions conducting COVID-19 vaccine research in early 2020. <\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">They allegedly stole sensitive data from U.S. universities and exploited vulnerabilities in Microsoft Exchange Server as part of the HAFNIUM cyber campaign, which compromised thousands of computers worldwide.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 kDvXdO font_openSans articleList\">\n<li class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__StackBase-sc-1fnzlkn-7 ecGWWE iQviKm\"\/><\/ul>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">In Texas, authorities say Xu confirmed breaching a university\u2019s network in February 2020, then accessed the email accounts of immunologists and virologists working on COVID-19 research. He later reported his findings to Chinese intelligence officers, according to court records.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Xu worked for Shanghai Powerock Network Co. Ltd., a company accused of enabling hacking activities for the Chinese government. The charges include wire fraud, conspiracy, identity theft, and unauthorized access to protected computers, carrying potential prison terms up to 20 years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">U.S. Attorney Nicholas Ganjei said the arrest signals the Justice Department\u2019s commitment to pursuing cybercriminals, even years after their offenses. FBI Houston\u2019s Special Agent in Charge Douglas Williams emphasized the global reach of their investigations and vowed to hold foreign adversaries accountable.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Zhang Yu remains at large. Authorities urge anyone with information on his whereabouts to contact the FBI.<\/p>\n<p>Breaking News Alerts<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 kiwhtN\">More Stories Like This In Our Email Newsletter<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2025 by KPRC Click2Houston &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Houston FBI agents have arrested Xu Zewei, a suspected hacker linked to China\u2019s Ministry of State Security, in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":19571,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5130],"tags":[12424,37640,37639,4219,12783,14535,4345,358,3187],"class_list":{"0":"post-49621","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-arrest","9":"tag-chinas-ministry-of-state-security","10":"tag-chinese-hacker","11":"tag-crime","12":"tag-fbi","13":"tag-fbi-houston","14":"tag-houston","15":"tag-texas","16":"tag-tx"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114819568065785753","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49621\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}