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Chinese Hacker Xu Zewei Arrested in Italy: Beijing's Spies Infiltrate US Tech!
This is your China Hack Report: Daily US Tech Defense podcast.
Hey listeners, Ting here with your China Hack Report: Daily US Tech Defense for July 9, 2025, and if you were hoping for a quiet cyber day, well, buckle up. Let's jump right in—no preamble, just pure cyber action.
The headline everyone’s buzzing about is the international arrest of Xu Zewei, the 33-year-old Chinese national grabbed by Italian police at Milan’s Malpensa Airport on July 3. According to the Justice Department, Xu is no script kiddie—he’s accused of being a key operator for the Silk Typhoon group, a state-sponsored hacking crew also tracked as Hafnium and UNC5221. The allegations? Everything from spearheading the infamous COVID-19 research heists at American universities like the University of Texas Medical Branch, to kicking off the massive global Microsoft Exchange Server exploit spree back in 2021, targeting over 60,000 entities worldwide. The FBI says Xu and his partner in cybercrime, Zhang Yu (still at large), worked under direct orders from China’s Ministry of State Security, specifically the Shanghai State Security Bureau. Xu’s day job was supposedly IT manager at Shanghai Powerock Network Co. Ltd.—for Beijing, that translates as “please hack the world”[1][3][5][6][8][9].
But wait, there’s more—last night, CISA fired off an emergency directive after a batch of vulnerabilities popped up in Chinese-made solar inverters installed all across the U.S. Midwest. Turns out, these aren’t just converting sunlight—they’re embedded with rogue communication devices that could let Beijing punch straight through American firewalls. CISA didn’t mince words: segment your networks immediately if you’re using anything from flagged OEMs like Hangzhou Digital, deploy every hotfix, and lock down your logs[4].
Meanwhile, the FBI is tag-teaming with CISA on a joint warning urging the whole country—from energy and telecom to financial giants—to audit for compromise indicators. If you’ve got Hangzhou Digital hardware or anything remotely linked to suspicious supply chains, now’s the time to update, isolate, and threat hunt. The joint directive’s mantra: “Patch, isolate, monitor.” It’s not just about stopping cyber spies; it’s about keeping the lights on and the markets running[4].
Capitol Hill isn’t just watching—they’re acting. Chairman John Moolenaar is reviving bills to fortify cyber resilience against state-sponsored threats. Congressional hearings this week highlighted Chinese APTs leaning into AI-driven spear phishing and deepfake lures that would make a catfish blush. The goal: not just surveillance, but infiltration and eventual control of critical U.S. systems, especially in defense and infrastructure.
So here’s your Ting-approved action checklist for the next 24 hours: patch all critical vulnerabilities, hunt for strange lateral movement, update every threat feed, and for the love of packets, audit your supply chains for sneaky backdoors. The Silk Typhoon and its APT siblings are getting brazen—don’t let your network be their next trophy.
Thanks for tuning in to China Hack Report. Don’t forget to subscribe, and stay one step ahead of those cyber typhoons. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.
For more http://www.quietplease.ai
Get the best deals https://amzn.to/3ODvOta
Hey listeners, Ting here with your China Hack Report: Daily US Tech Defense for July 9, 2025, and if you were hoping for a quiet cyber day, well, buckle up. Let's jump right in—no preamble, just pure cyber action.
The headline everyone’s buzzing about is the international arrest of Xu Zewei, the 33-year-old Chinese national grabbed by Italian police at Milan’s Malpensa Airport on July 3. According to the Justice Department, Xu is no script kiddie—he’s accused of being a key operator for the Silk Typhoon group, a state-sponsored hacking crew also tracked as Hafnium and UNC5221. The allegations? Everything from spearheading the infamous COVID-19 research heists at American universities like the University of Texas Medical Branch, to kicking off the massive global Microsoft Exchange Server exploit spree back in 2021, targeting over 60,000 entities worldwide. The FBI says Xu and his partner in cybercrime, Zhang Yu (still at large), worked under direct orders from China’s Ministry of State Security, specifically the Shanghai State Security Bureau. Xu’s day job was supposedly IT manager at Shanghai Powerock Network Co. Ltd.—for Beijing, that translates as “please hack the world”[1][3][5][6][8][9].
But wait, there’s more—last night, CISA fired off an emergency directive after a batch of vulnerabilities popped up in Chinese-made solar inverters installed all across the U.S. Midwest. Turns out, these aren’t just converting sunlight—they’re embedded with rogue communication devices that could let Beijing punch straight through American firewalls. CISA didn’t mince words: segment your networks immediately if you’re using anything from flagged OEMs like Hangzhou Digital, deploy every hotfix, and lock down your logs[4].
Meanwhile, the FBI is tag-teaming with CISA on a joint warning urging the whole country—from energy and telecom to financial giants—to audit for compromise indicators. If you’ve got Hangzhou Digital hardware or anything remotely linked to suspicious supply chains, now’s the time to update, isolate, and threat hunt. The joint directive’s mantra: “Patch, isolate, monitor.” It’s not just about stopping cyber spies; it’s about keeping the lights on and the markets running[4].
Capitol Hill isn’t just watching—they’re acting. Chairman John Moolenaar is reviving bills to fortify cyber resilience against state-sponsored threats. Congressional hearings this week highlighted Chinese APTs leaning into AI-driven spear phishing and deepfake lures that would make a catfish blush. The goal: not just surveillance, but infiltration and eventual control of critical U.S. systems, especially in defense and infrastructure.
So here’s your Ting-approved action checklist for the next 24 hours: patch all critical vulnerabilities, hunt for strange lateral movement, update every threat feed, and for the love of packets, audit your supply chains for sneaky backdoors. The Silk Typhoon and its APT siblings are getting brazen—don’t let your network be their next trophy.
Thanks for tuning in to China Hack Report. Don’t forget to subscribe, and stay one step ahead of those cyber typhoons. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.
For more http://www.quietplease.ai
Get the best deals https://amzn.to/3ODvOta
View all episodes
By Quiet. PleaseThis is your China Hack Report: Daily US Tech Defense podcast.
Hey listeners, Ting here with your China Hack Report: Daily US Tech Defense for July 9, 2025, and if you were hoping for a quiet cyber day, well, buckle up. Let's jump right in—no preamble, just pure cyber action.
The headline everyone’s buzzing about is the international arrest of Xu Zewei, the 33-year-old Chinese national grabbed by Italian police at Milan’s Malpensa Airport on July 3. According to the Justice Department, Xu is no script kiddie—he’s accused of being a key operator for the Silk Typhoon group, a state-sponsored hacking crew also tracked as Hafnium and UNC5221. The allegations? Everything from spearheading the infamous COVID-19 research heists at American universities like the University of Texas Medical Branch, to kicking off the massive global Microsoft Exchange Server exploit spree back in 2021, targeting over 60,000 entities worldwide. The FBI says Xu and his partner in cybercrime, Zhang Yu (still at large), worked under direct orders from China’s Ministry of State Security, specifically the Shanghai State Security Bureau. Xu’s day job was supposedly IT manager at Shanghai Powerock Network Co. Ltd.—for Beijing, that translates as “please hack the world”[1][3][5][6][8][9].
But wait, there’s more—last night, CISA fired off an emergency directive after a batch of vulnerabilities popped up in Chinese-made solar inverters installed all across the U.S. Midwest. Turns out, these aren’t just converting sunlight—they’re embedded with rogue communication devices that could let Beijing punch straight through American firewalls. CISA didn’t mince words: segment your networks immediately if you’re using anything from flagged OEMs like Hangzhou Digital, deploy every hotfix, and lock down your logs[4].
Meanwhile, the FBI is tag-teaming with CISA on a joint warning urging the whole country—from energy and telecom to financial giants—to audit for compromise indicators. If you’ve got Hangzhou Digital hardware or anything remotely linked to suspicious supply chains, now’s the time to update, isolate, and threat hunt. The joint directive’s mantra: “Patch, isolate, monitor.” It’s not just about stopping cyber spies; it’s about keeping the lights on and the markets running[4].
Capitol Hill isn’t just watching—they’re acting. Chairman John Moolenaar is reviving bills to fortify cyber resilience against state-sponsored threats. Congressional hearings this week highlighted Chinese APTs leaning into AI-driven spear phishing and deepfake lures that would make a catfish blush. The goal: not just surveillance, but infiltration and eventual control of critical U.S. systems, especially in defense and infrastructure.
So here’s your Ting-approved action checklist for the next 24 hours: patch all critical vulnerabilities, hunt for strange lateral movement, update every threat feed, and for the love of packets, audit your supply chains for sneaky backdoors. The Silk Typhoon and its APT siblings are getting brazen—don’t let your network be their next trophy.
Thanks for tuning in to China Hack Report. Don’t forget to subscribe, and stay one step ahead of those cyber typhoons. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.
For more http://www.quietplease.ai
Get the best deals https://amzn.to/3ODvOta
Hey listeners, Ting here with your China Hack Report: Daily US Tech Defense for July 9, 2025, and if you were hoping for a quiet cyber day, well, buckle up. Let's jump right in—no preamble, just pure cyber action.
The headline everyone’s buzzing about is the international arrest of Xu Zewei, the 33-year-old Chinese national grabbed by Italian police at Milan’s Malpensa Airport on July 3. According to the Justice Department, Xu is no script kiddie—he’s accused of being a key operator for the Silk Typhoon group, a state-sponsored hacking crew also tracked as Hafnium and UNC5221. The allegations? Everything from spearheading the infamous COVID-19 research heists at American universities like the University of Texas Medical Branch, to kicking off the massive global Microsoft Exchange Server exploit spree back in 2021, targeting over 60,000 entities worldwide. The FBI says Xu and his partner in cybercrime, Zhang Yu (still at large), worked under direct orders from China’s Ministry of State Security, specifically the Shanghai State Security Bureau. Xu’s day job was supposedly IT manager at Shanghai Powerock Network Co. Ltd.—for Beijing, that translates as “please hack the world”[1][3][5][6][8][9].
But wait, there’s more—last night, CISA fired off an emergency directive after a batch of vulnerabilities popped up in Chinese-made solar inverters installed all across the U.S. Midwest. Turns out, these aren’t just converting sunlight—they’re embedded with rogue communication devices that could let Beijing punch straight through American firewalls. CISA didn’t mince words: segment your networks immediately if you’re using anything from flagged OEMs like Hangzhou Digital, deploy every hotfix, and lock down your logs[4].
Meanwhile, the FBI is tag-teaming with CISA on a joint warning urging the whole country—from energy and telecom to financial giants—to audit for compromise indicators. If you’ve got Hangzhou Digital hardware or anything remotely linked to suspicious supply chains, now’s the time to update, isolate, and threat hunt. The joint directive’s mantra: “Patch, isolate, monitor.” It’s not just about stopping cyber spies; it’s about keeping the lights on and the markets running[4].
Capitol Hill isn’t just watching—they’re acting. Chairman John Moolenaar is reviving bills to fortify cyber resilience against state-sponsored threats. Congressional hearings this week highlighted Chinese APTs leaning into AI-driven spear phishing and deepfake lures that would make a catfish blush. The goal: not just surveillance, but infiltration and eventual control of critical U.S. systems, especially in defense and infrastructure.
So here’s your Ting-approved action checklist for the next 24 hours: patch all critical vulnerabilities, hunt for strange lateral movement, update every threat feed, and for the love of packets, audit your supply chains for sneaky backdoors. The Silk Typhoon and its APT siblings are getting brazen—don’t let your network be their next trophy.
Thanks for tuning in to China Hack Report. Don’t forget to subscribe, and stay one step ahead of those cyber typhoons. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.
For more http://www.quietplease.ai
Get the best deals https://amzn.to/3ODvOta