Xu Zewei (徐泽伟), 34, of the People’s Republic of China was extradited to the United States this weekend and appeared today in U.S. District Court in Houston on a nine-count indictment related to his involvement in computer intrusions between February 2020 and June 2021.
Certain of those computer intrusions allegedly are part of the HAFNIUM computer intrusion campaign that compromised thousands of computers worldwide, including in the United States. Other intrusions targeted U.S. COVID-19 research during the height of the pandemic. Xu is charged along with Zhang Yu (张宇), 44, who is also a PRC national. According to court documents, officers of the PRC’s Ministry of State Security’s (MSS) Shanghai State Security Bureau (SSSB) directed Xu to conduct this hacking. The 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.
Read more…
Source: U.S. Department of Justice
Sign up for the Cyber Security Review Newsletter
The latest cyber security news and insights delivered right to your inbox
Related:
- Israel freezes crypto accounts seeking Hamas donations
October 10, 2023
Israel has frozen cryptocurrency accounts used to solicit donations for the Palestinian militant group Hamas on social media, police said on Tuesday. Hamas launched devastating attacks from Gaza into Israel on Saturday, in one of the most serious escalations in the Israel-Palestinian conflict in years. “According to suspicions, with the outbreak of the war, Hamas’ ...
- UK: ‘Cyber terrorist’ who hid data on James Bond-style cufflink refused parole
October 7, 2023
A “cyber terrorist” who was jailed after hiding his support for the so-called Islamic State on a James Bond-style cufflink has been refused parole. Samata Ullah, then 34, created a “one-stop shop” for terrorists from his bedroom in Cardiff, offering a range of guidance on how to stay one step ahead of police and security ...
- Data breaches putting domestic abuse victims’ lives at risk, says UK watchdog
September 27, 2023
Councils, police forces and hospitals are putting women’s lives at risk by accidentally disclosing domestic abuse victims’ addresses to perpetrators, the UK’s information watchdog has said. John Edwards, the information commissioner, who has reprimanded seven organisations in just over a year for data breaches affecting victims of abuse, said: “This is a pattern that must ...
- China to impose severe punishment on crimes of cyberbullying, defamation offenses, fabricating sexual topics
September 25, 2023
China on Monday released guidelines to severely punish cyberspace violations that target minors, involve paid posters, fabricate “sexual” topics and use artificial intelligence to disseminate illegal information. The guidelines on punishing crimes of cyberspace violence in accordance with laws were jointly issued by China’s Supreme People’s Court, China’s Supreme People’s Procuratorate and China’s Ministry of Public ...
- Bermuda: Governor Confirms A ‘Major Cyber-Attack’
September 22, 2023
“Bermuda’s Government IT systems were subjected to a major cyber-attack” and the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre and the National Crime Agency “have been in contact with the Bermuda authorities, and are providing advice to support them,” Governor Rena Lalgie said. The Governor said, “Yesterday Bermuda’s Government IT systems were subjected to a major cyber-attack. That ...
- DoppelPaymer ransomware group suspects identified
September 20, 2023
The German police in cooperation with the US Secret Service have executed search warrants against suspected members of the DoppelPaymer ransomware group in Germany and Ukraine. In March of 2023 the German Regional Police and the Ukrainian National Police, with support from Europol, the Dutch Police, and the United States Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), apprehended ...