cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/20187958

A prominent computer scientist who has spent 20 years publishing academic papers on cryptography, privacy, and cybersecurity has gone incommunicado, had his professor profile, email account, and phone number removed by his employer Indiana University, and had his homes raided by the FBI. No one knows why.

Xiaofeng Wang has a long list of prestigious titles. He was the associate dean for research at Indiana University’s Luddy School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering, a fellow at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a tenured professor at Indiana University at Bloomington. According to his employer, he has served as principal investigator on research projects totaling nearly $23 million over his 21 years there.

He has also co-authored scores of academic papers on a diverse range of research fields, including cryptography, systems security, and data privacy, including the protection of human genomic data. I have personally spoken to him on three occasions for articles herehere, and here.

“None of this is in any way normal”

In recent weeks, Wang’s email account, phone number, and profile page at the Luddy School were quietly erased by his employer. Over the same time, Indiana University also removed a profile for his wife, Nianli Ma, who was listed as a Lead Systems Analyst and Programmer at the university’s Library Technologies division.

According to the Herald-Times in Bloomington, a small fleet of unmarked cars driven by government agents descended on the Bloomington home of Wang and Ma on Friday. They spent most of the day going in and out of the house and occasionally transferred boxes from their vehicles. TV station WTHR, meanwhile, reported that a second home owned by Wang and Ma and located in Carmel, Indiana, was also searched. The station said that both a resident and an attorney for the resident were on scene during at least part of the search.

Attempts to locate Wang and Ma have so far been unsuccessful. An Indiana University spokesman didn’t answer emailed questions asking if the couple was still employed by the university and why their profile pages, email addresses and phone numbers had been removed. The spokesman provided the contact information for a spokeswoman at the FBI’s field office in Indianapolis. In an email, the spokeswoman wrote: “The FBI conducted court authorized law enforcement activity at homes in Bloomington and Carmel Friday. We have no further comment at this time.”

Searches of federal court dockets turned up no documents related to Wang, Ma, or any searches of their residences. The FBI spokeswoman didn’t answer questions seeking which US district court issued the warrant and when, and whether either Wang or Ma is being detained by authorities. Justice Department representatives didn’t return an email seeking the same information. An email sent to a personal email address belonging to Wang went unanswered at the time this post went live. Their resident status (e.g. US citizens or green card holders) is currently unknown.

Fellow researchers took to social media over the weekend to register their concern over the series of events.

“None of this is in any way normal,” Matthew Green, a professor specializing in cryptography at Johns Hopkins University, wrote on Mastodon. He continued: “Has anyone been in contact? I hear he’s been missing for two weeks and his students can’t reach him. How does this not get noticed for two weeks???”

In the same thread, Matt Blaze, a McDevitt Professor of Computer Science and Law at Georgetown University said: “It’s hard to imagine what reason there could be for the university to scrub its website as if he never worked there. And while there’s a process for removing tenured faculty, it takes more than an afternoon to do it.”

Local news outlets reported the agents spent several hours moving boxes in an out of the residences. WTHR provided the following details about the raid on the Carmel home:

Neighbors say the agents announced “FBI, come out!” over a megaphone.

A woman came out of the house holding a phone. A video from a neighbor shows an agent taking that phone from her. She was then questioned in the driveway before agents began searching the home, collecting evidence and taking photos.

A car was pulled out of the garage slightly to allow investigators to access the attic.

The woman left the house before 13News arrived. She returned just after noon accompanied by a lawyer. The group of ten or so investigators left a few minutes later.

The FBI would not say what they were looking for or who is under investigation. A bureau spokesperson issued a statement: “I can confirm we conducted court-authorized activity at the address in Carmel today. We have no further comment at this time.”

Investigators were at the house for about four hours before leaving with several boxes of evidence. 13News rang the doorbell when the agents were gone. A lawyer representing the family who answered the door told us they’re not sure yet what the investigation is about.

This post will be updated if new details become available. Anyone with first-hand knowledge of events involving Wang, Ma, or the investigation into either is encouraged to contact me, preferably over Signal at DanArs.82. The email address is: dan.goodin@arstechnica.com.

  • @el_muerte@lemm.ee
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    1672 months ago

    Name like that, plus a career in cybersecurity and cryptography, guy probably saw the writing on the wall and peaced out before being arrested as an “enemy of the state” and sent to rot without due process in an El Salvadorian prison.

    • AwesomeLowlander
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      172 months ago

      peaced out before being arrested

      Probably not, given the house was occupied at the time of the raid.

  • @zr0@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    2 months ago

    “None of this is in any way normal,” Matthew Green.

    Exactly, Matthew. But they are normal in a fascist country. Remember, if you do not fight actively against it, you are part of it. Too many former Nazis came up with the excuse “But I was forced to” or “I didn’t know any of this”. Non of those arguments are valid. Fight against it. Leave the country. But giving interviews will not change it.

  • @jet@hackertalks.com
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    672 months ago

    National security letters and research… That’s why there is zero information, it’s all sealed.

    That’s why the lawyer won’t say anything, they are not allowed to.

    Wasn’t unheard of for PhD students at my university to get their research made secret while their PhD was in progress…created huge headaches for everyone, especially if they couldn’t get clearance to even see/finish their research.

    • jrs100000
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      132 months ago

      If he was prominent in crypto research theres a good chance he was or had previously worked for them as well. This sounds like espionage to me. I know everyone is scared its Trump related, but this isnt how him or his lackeys operate at all.

      • @andallthat@lemmy.world
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        22 months ago

        Agree. The MO is totally different: funding for bis research would be cut, he would be fired and then deported very publically.

        • @frezik@midwest.social
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          42 months ago

          Right, and for another thing, it sounds like they’re actually following procedures to get court orders/warrants. Now, business as usual in the United States wasn’t great as it was, but this doesn’t fit how the Trump federal government has been doing things.

          • 🔍🦘🛎
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            52 months ago

            So if this guy had knowledge and published material of sensitive cryto methods, what next. Doesn’t exactly sound like they’re giving him a job. Sounds a lot more like we’ll never hear about it again.

            • @PurpleSkull@lemm.ee
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              12 months ago

              If it is determined without a doubt that he’s an Agent, the government he spied for will be contacted to see if there are any deals to be made. If not, he will simply be prosecuted and jailed for later use. The fact that he is prosecuted and why will be made public, but the actual prosecution not for national security reasons.

      • @Microw@lemm.ee
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        12 months ago

        Especially the part about his wife. Sounds very much like espionage to me.

  • @rational_lib@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    He’s been missing for two weeks but someone created a github for an academic homepage for him a few days ago and updated a branch on it 20 hours ago?’

    Unless there’s something I’m missing and multiple XiaoFeng Wangs work for the Luddy School at IU?

    I suppose it could also just be a fake account, the whole thing is just weird.

  • Dr. Moose
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    152 months ago

    Cryptography expert disappears - so many awesome conspiracies!

    Found a magical crypto bypass? Incredible 0day? He’s actually Satoshi?

  • @PurpleSkull@lemm.ee
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    122 months ago

    Alright this is knee-jerk speculation, but the only reason I can think of for the FBI collecting evidence like this (the moving boxes) and the university not saying anything, is because it was determined Prof. Wang is a Chinese agent. It’s very unlikely ICE would come after professors, could do it silently, and someone in an area of expertise that is highly sought-after would be deported at all. And they wouldn’t include the FBI either.