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Speaker 1: A Chinese national thirty three years of age, has been

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taken into CUSSY for his alleged involvement in US computer intrusions.

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Between February twenty twenty and June twenty twenty one, Chinese

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Ministry of State Security allegedly directed the theft of COVID

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nineteen Research and confidential information authorities took Public People's Republic

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of China national zeus Way into custody in Milan as

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he departed playing from China at the requests of the US.

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Zoo is charged with charge along with PRC national Zang Yu,

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who is now unsealed in nine on account indictment returned

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in November twenty twenty three. They were both involved in

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computer intrusions. The charges alleged MSS, which is Ministry of

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State Security, and Shanghai State Security Bureau, which are PRC

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intelligence services responsible for prtc's domestic counter intelligence and aspects

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of the PRC's political and domestic security. When conducting the

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computer intrusions, Zoo worked for Shanghai Power Rock Network, one

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of many enabling companies in the PRC that conducted hacking

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for the PRC government. The indictment alleges at Zoo was

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hacking and stealing crucial COVID nineteen research at the behests

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of the Chinese government, while the same government was simultaneously

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with holding information about the virus and its origins. The

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arrests underscores in the United States commitment to pursuing hackers.

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As the Assistant Attorney General, according to CORE documents, in

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early twenty twenties, U and his co conspirators hacked and

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otherwise targeted US based universities and leading immunologists and virologists,

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and conducting groundbreaking research into COVID nineteen vaccines, treatment, and testing.

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The charges alleged Zu and others reported their activities to

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officers in the Triple SB who were supervising and directing

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the hacking activities. For example, in February nine, twenty twenties,

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you allegedly provided an SSB officer with confirmation they had

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compromised the network of a research university located in Southern

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District of Texas. The officer directed you to target access

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specific email accounts belonging to virologists and theologists engage in

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COVID nineteen research. Beginning in late twenty twenty, Zu and

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his co conspirators exploited certain vulnerabilities in Microsoft Exchange Server

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and widely used Microsoft product for sending, receiving, and storing

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email messages. Their exploitation of it was allegedly at the

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forefront of a massive campaign targeting thousands of computers worldwide,

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known publicly as Halfnium. In March twenty twenty one, Microsoft

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publicly disclosed the intrusion campaign by state sponsored hackers operating

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out of China. The United States and foreign partners attributed

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the halfnium campaign to the PRC, which they in private

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sector cybersecurity leaders condemned as indiscriminate and reckless. The charges

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alleged victims of Zoo's exploitation of the server where a

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university located in Southern District of Texas in a law

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firm with offices worldwide, including in Washington, d C. After

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exploiting computers running the Microsoft Exchange Server, Zoo and his

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co conspirators allegedly installed webshells on them to enable their

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remote administration. These webs were specific to half of them

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actors at the time, as with the earlier COVID nineteen

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research intrusions, an example again in January of twenty twenty one,

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Zoo confirmed his zaying that he had compromised the university's network.

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According to the charges, an officer then directors due to

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obtain a list of other successful intrusions. The charges alleged

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unauthorized access to the law firms network, which allowed Zoo

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and co conspirats to steal information from mailboxes. So it

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was a big operation and you can read all about

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it the Justice dout gov website. But credible