- A 33 -year -old man was accused of spying on the Chinese government
- The FBI alleys that it is part of the Silk Typhoon hacking collective
- If he is convicted, he could look at decades in prison
The application of Italian law arrested a 33-year-old Chinese national to have allegedly spied on the United States.
A landing at Malpensa Airport in Milan on a flight from China, Zewei Xu was apprehended by local police and, according to the Italian news agency Ansa, is sought after by the FBI for having participated allegedly in cyber-spying operations for China, targeting the data surrounding the anti-Cavids vaccines that were produced at the University of the Texas in 2020.
Quoting “Documents of the Interior Ministry”, Ansa said that XU is accused of being part of Hafnium, a sadly famous actor of threat sponsored by the State also known as the Silk Typhon. With this group, Xu would have “targeted thousands of computers around the world” to obtain information on “various American government policies”.
Typhoons against critical infrastructure
There will be an audience at the start of next week at the Milan Court of Appeal, to determine if Xu will be extradited to the United States.
While his family claims that he is computer director at Shanghai GTA Semi Conductor, where he develops computer systems and network infrastructure, the American authorities accuse Xu of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.
If it is convicted, XU envisages a maximum punishment of 20 years in prison, as well as an additional five years for unauthorized access to protected computers.
Silk typhoon is one of the many “typhoon” groups (flax typhoon, silk typhoon and others), which are all apparently sponsored by the state and engaged in various forms of cybercriminal activity.
Critical infrastructure companies, government organizations, telecommunications and similar companies are the most common objectives of typhoons.
In mid-April 2025, in the middle of a serious escalation of hostilities between the United States and China, senior Chinese officials apparently recognized in camera that Beijing was involved in a series of cyberattacks on American critical infrastructure, led by Volt Typhoon.
This group infiltrated American critical infrastructure systems for years, in particular in compromise the energy, communications, transport and water industries.
Via Bleeping Compompute
