A Chinese national, Xu Zewei, is being held in a Houston jail for allegedly hacking universities and firms under the direction of China's Ministry of State Security. The 34-year-old is accused of exploiting vulnerabilities in VPNs and Microsoft Exchange to exfiltrate research data as part of a campaign known as Silk Typhoon, which occurred during the pandemic. This state-aligned activity signals a shift in the threat model, from traditional criminal behavior to geopolitically motivated attacks, requiring a different approach to defense1. The extradition of Xu Zewei sends a strong message globally about the consequences of engaging in nation-state sponsored hacking. The fact that the FBI is involved in the case highlights the seriousness with which the US government is taking these types of threats. So what this means for practitioners is that they must now consider the geopolitical landscape when assessing their organization's risk profile.