China's Hacking Spree: From Fake Professors to TikTok Data Grabs - The FBI's Most Wanted List Just Got Busier

About this episode

The episode discusses China's recent cyber activities, including espionage tactics and indictments related to hacking operations targeting US organizations.

This is your Red Alert: China's Daily Cyber Moves podcast. Hey listeners, Alexandra Reeves here with your Red Alert on China's daily cyber moves. Over the past few days, it's been non-stop pressure on US targets, blending old-school espionage with cutting-edge AI tactics. Let's dive into the timeline that's got CISA and FBI lights flashing red. It kicked off last week when the Department of Justice announced the extradition of Xu Zewei, a 34-year-old Chinese national from Shanghai Powerock Network Co. Ltd., tied to China's Ministry of State Security and Shanghai State Security Bureau. Arrested in Italy back in July 2025, Xu landed in a Houston courtroom this week, facing nine counts of wire fraud, hacking, and identity theft for Silk Typhoon operations—also known as Hafnium or Murky Panda. Between early 2020 and 2021, he and co-conspirator Zhang Yu, still at large, exploited Microsoft Exchange Server flaws, planting web shells on over 12,700 US organizations, including universities hunting COVID-19 vaccines and treatments. FBI Cyber Division's Brett Leatherman called it a vast intrusion campaign straight from Beijing's playbook. Yesterday, April 28, the DOJ dropped another bomb…

People in this episode

Host: Alexandra Reeves

Topics covered

• cybersecurity
• espionage
• AI tactics
• hacking
• data privacy
• international relations

Keywords

• China
• hacking
• cyber moves
• espionage
• FBI
• CISA
• data theft
• Microsoft Exchange
• spear-phishing

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Powerock Network Co. Ltd., Ministry of State Security, Shanghai State Security Bureau, FBI, CISA, Department of Justice, Aviation Industry Corporation of China, NASA

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