Chinese Silk Typhoon Hacker Extradited to U.S. Over COVID Research Cyberattacks

A Chinese national, Xu Zewei, allegedly affiliated with the Silk Typhoon group and directed by China's MSS Shanghai bureau, was extradited to the U.S. and charged for cyber espionage between Feb 2020 and Jun 2021 that targeted U.S. universities, immunologists, and government agencies; attacks reportedly exploited Microsoft Exchange zero-days (tracked by Microsoft as Hafnium) to deploy web shells and steal COVID-19 vaccine-related information, and prosecutors say he worked for an enabling company in China while a co-defendant remains at large.