US Offers $10 Million Reward for Hafnium Hacker Zhang Yu

• •Zhang Yu is accused of leading the Hafnium hacking campaign targeting U.S. entities.
• •The U.S. offers a $10 million reward for information on Zhang's whereabouts.
• •Xu Zewei, Zhang's accomplice, was arrested and extradited to the U.S. in 2026.

The U.S. State Department has announced a $10 million reward for information on Zhang Yu, a Chinese national accused of leading the Hafnium hacking campaign. Zhang, director at Shanghai Firetech Information Science and Technology, allegedly collaborated with Xu Zewei to breach computers and steal sensitive COVID-19 research from U.S. universities and a law firm. The hacking campaign, which occurred between February 2020 and June 2021, compromised over 12,700 entities worldwide. Zhang is charged with violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, while Xu was arrested in July 2025 and extradited to the U.S. in April 2026. The Hafnium campaign exploited vulnerabilities in Microsoft Exchange Server, affecting thousands of computers globally. The FBI has indicated that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) directed these operations through its intelligence services.