A Chinese language nationwide was arrested in Milan, Italy, final week for allegedly being linked to the state-sponsored Silk Hurricane hacking group, which liable for cyberattacks in opposition to American organizations and authorities businesses.
Based on Italian media ANSA, the 33-year-old man, Xu Zewei, was arrested at Milan’s Malpensa Airport on July third after arriving on a flight from China. Italian police arrested the suspect on a world warrant from the U.S. authorities.
ANSA reviews that Xu is accused of being linked to the Chinese language state-sponsored Silk Hurricane hacking group, aka Hafnium, which has been liable for a variety of cyberespionage assaults in opposition to the U.S. and different nations.
Specifically, Italian media reviews that Xu is linked to the 2020 Silk Hurricane cyberattacks on infectious illness researchers and healthcare organizations, which aimed to steal knowledge on anti-COVID vaccines.
“These actors have been noticed trying to establish and illicitly acquire useful mental property (IP) and public well being knowledge associated to vaccines, remedies, and testing from networks and personnel affiliated with COVID-19-related analysis,” learn the joint advisory.
The hacking group has additionally been linked to more moderen cyberespionage campaigns, together with these on the U.S. Treasury’s Workplace of Overseas Property Management (OFAC) and the Committee on Overseas Funding.
In March, Microsoft reported that Silk Hurricane had begun focusing on distant administration instruments and cloud companies in provide chain assaults to realize entry to downstream clients’ networks.
Xu is at the moment being held in Busto Arsizio jail with the U.S. searching for extradition to face trial within the States.
Whereas cloud assaults could also be rising extra subtle, attackers nonetheless succeed with surprisingly easy strategies.
Drawing from Wiz’s detections throughout hundreds of organizations, this report reveals 8 key strategies utilized by cloud-fluent risk actors.
