Italy extradites alleged Chinese state-backed hacker to US over theft of COVID-19 research

A Chinese national, Xu Zewei, was extradited from Italy to the U.S. and charged with participating in a state-directed cyber espionage campaign that targeted U.S. research institutions to steal COVID-19 vaccine, treatment, and testing research; prosecutors allege he worked for a Shanghai-based contracting firm under direction of China’s Ministry of State Security and took part in intrusions including exploitation of Microsoft Exchange vulnerabilities tied to the HAFNIUM campaign that compromised thousands of organizations.