A Chinese national, Xu Zewei, has been extradited to the United States from Italy, facing serious charges linked to cyber attacks targeting American entities. Arrested in July 2025, the 34-year-old is accused of being part of the Silk Typhoon hacking group, which allegedly received directives from the Ministry of State Security's Shanghai State Security Bureau to conduct these operations.
Xu faces nine counts, including wire fraud and conspiracy to access protected computers without authorization. His activities reportedly included breaching a Texas university’s systems to steal information related to COVID-19 vaccines between February 2020 and June 2021. The U.S. Department of Justice notes that Xu and his associate, Zhang Yu, utilized vulnerabilities in Microsoft Exchange Server to execute their attacks.
While Xu's legal representation asserts his innocence, claiming he is a victim of mistaken identity, the DoJ indicates that he worked for Shanghai Powerock Network Co. Ltd. during these incidents, which was identified as one of the companies facilitating hacking for the Chinese government. As of now, Zhang Yu remains at large.