A Chinese national was arrested in Milan, Italy, last week for his alleged links to a hacking group. The thirty-three-year-old man, Xu Zewei, was arrested at Milan’s Malpensa Airport on July 3rd after arriving on a flight. Italian police arrested the suspect based on an international warrant that was issued by the United States government. Xu is accused of being linked to the Chinese state-sponsored Silk Typhoon hacking group, which is also known as Hafnium. This group has been responsible for a wide range of cyberespionage attacks against the United States and other countries.
Italian media reports that Xu is linked to the 2020 Silk Typhoon cyberattacks on infectious disease researchers. These attacks on healthcare organizations aimed to steal important data on the anti-COVID vaccines that were being developed. The hacking group has also been linked to more recent cyberespionage campaigns against some very high-profile U.S. targets. This includes attacks on the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control and the Committee on Foreign Investment.
Microsoft also reported the group has begun targeting remote management tools and cloud services in new supply chain attacks.
The U.S. government says Hafnium orchestrated a large-scale cyber intrusion campaign that targeted thousands of computers worldwide. The campaign’s goal was to get information on a variety of different United States government policies and plans. Xu is accused of crimes including wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and also unauthorized access to protected computers. The wire fraud charge alone carries a maximum prison term of twenty years for a conviction in the US. A hearing on the United States’ extradition request is set to take place on Tuesday at Milan’s Court of Appeals.
Xu Zewei is currently being held in the Busto Arsizio prison in Italy with the U.S. seeking his extradition.
In confirming Xu’s arrest, an Italian judge said there was a significant risk of him fleeing the country. The suspect’s family has said that he is simply a technician who works for an IT company. His wife told the police she could not understand the reason for her husband’s arrest in the airport. His defense lawyer, Enrico Giarda, has also said that all of the accusations against his client are “fanciful.”
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