He Hacked America At Its Weakest Moment, And Now He’s Finally Facing The Consequences

A Chinese computer hacker who stole research from the United States on COVID has been arrested, FBI Director Kash Patel has announced.

Patel said in a social media post early Tuesday morning that 34-year-old Chinese national Xu Zewei had been extradited to the United States to face charges for stealing research from American scientists and participating in a hacking campaign targeting thousands of United States organizations.

“The FBI and our great partners have arrested Xu Zewei — a PRC national and state-sponsored hacker — allegedly responsible for a massive cyber intrusion campaign in 2020 and 2021 stealing COVID-19 research from American institutions,” Patel posted on X.

“During 2020 and 2021, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Xu and his co-conspirators allegedly targeted and hacked U.S. based universities, immunologists, and virologists conducting COVID-19 research – including key treatment and vaccines — accessing email accounts and more,” Patel added.

One example of the COVID hacking occurred before the United States and most of the rest of the world conducted shutdowns. Reports from American officials have concluded that COVID likely escaped from a Chinese lab.

Xu confirmed on February 19, 2020, to a Chinese intelligence officer that he had compromised the network of a research university in Texas, according to the indictment. On February 22, 2020, he was directed “to target and access specific email accounts (mailboxes) belonging to virologists and immunologists engaged in COVID-19 research for the university,” according to the Justice Department.

Other targets of the hacking scheme included another university in Texas, a university in North Carolina, and a law firm with offices in Washington, D.C.

Xu was arrested in Milan, Italy, on April 27, according to court documents, years after a bench warrant was first issued for him on November 2, 2023. Patel thanked Italian law enforcement for helping to locate and extradite Xu.

Patel said that Xu was also a contractor for the Hafnium cyber espionage group directed by Chinese officials that has “compromised nearly 13,000” American organizations.

“This case is a historic win for our cybersecurity efforts under President Trump, bringing bad actors who target American infrastructure to justice no matter where they try to hide,” Patel said.

The Justice Department alleges that Xu was directed to conduct the hacking by China’s Ministry of State Security’s Shanghai State Security Bureau.

Xu faces decades in prison after being charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and two counts of wire fraud, conspiracy to cause damage to and obtain information by unauthorized access to protected computers, two counts of obtaining information by unauthorized access to protected computers, two counts of intentional damage to a protected computer, and aggravated identity theft.

The Justice Department said that Zhang Yu, another Chinese national suspected of aiding in the hacking scheme, remains at large. A detention hearing for Xu is set for April 30. A lawyer listed for Xu did not immediately respond to request for comment.