{"id":26929,"date":"2026-04-28T11:06:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T11:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/kash-patel-says-fbi-caught-hacker-behind-covid-data-theft\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T11:06:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T11:06:26","slug":"kash-patel-says-fbi-caught-hacker-behind-covid-data-theft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/kash-patel-says-fbi-caught-hacker-behind-covid-data-theft\/","title":{"rendered":"Kash Patel says FBI caught hacker behind COVID data theft"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-detail__content blocks\">\n<p><strong>Kash Patel said the FBI arrested Xu Zewei, a Chinese national accused of cyber attacks during the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"cn-block-summary-block_d199267801c738e45579435ecd88ac6f\" class=\"cn-block-summary\">\n<div class=\"cn-block-summary__nav tabs\">\n        <span class=\"tabs__item is-selected\">Summary<\/span>\n    <\/div>\n<div class=\"cn-block-summary__content\">\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Xu Zewei was extradited from Italy to face U.S. charges over alleged COVID research hacks.<\/li>\n<li>FBI linked Xu to HAFNIUM, accused of compromising nearly 13,000 U.S. organizations.<\/li>\n<li>Kash Patel filed a $250 million defamation suit against The Atlantic and Sarah Fitzpatrick.<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- .cn-block-summary --><\/p>\n<p>Xu was extradited from Italy to the United States over the weekend. He is expected to face federal charges linked to hacking activity between 2020 and 2021.<\/p>\n<p>Officials said Xu and others targeted U.S.-based universities and medical researchers. The attacks focused on institutions working on COVID-19 vaccines and treatments.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- .cn-block-related-link --><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Alleged role in HAFNIUM operations<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The FBI linked Xu to HAFNIUM, a group accused of a wide cyber intrusion campaign.<\/p>\n<p>Authorities said the group compromised nearly 13,000 U.S. organizations. The activity included access to email accounts and sensitive research data.<\/p>\n<p>Patel <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/FBIDirectorKash\/status\/2049063321748349120?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">described<\/a> the case as a major step in cyber enforcement. He said the operation shows authorities will act against threats targeting U.S. systems.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, the FBI worked with Italian officials to secure Xu\u2019s arrest and extradition.<\/p>\n<p>Patel thanked Italian police leadership for their role in the case. He said cooperation between agencies helped bring Xu into custody.<\/p>\n<p>The FBI also confirmed joint operations during the investigation process. Officials said coordination remained active until extradition was completed.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Lawsuit against The Atlantic<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>At the same time, Patel filed a $250 million defamation lawsuit against The Atlantic and reporter Sarah Fitzpatrick.<\/p>\n<p>The complaint alleges the publication reported \u201cfalse and obviously fabricated allegations\u201d about his conduct as FBI Director.<\/p>\n<p>The report claimed issues including drinking, absences, and erratic behavior. Patel disputes these claims and has taken the case to U.S. District Court in Washington.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- .cn-block-related-link --><\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kash Patel said the FBI arrested Xu Zewei, a Chinese national accused of cyber attacks during the COVID-19 pandemic. Summary Xu Zewei was extradited from Italy to face U.S. charges&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26410,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cryptocurrency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26929"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26929\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26930,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26929\/revisions\/26930"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}