FBI-Investigated Cybersecurity Professor Has Not Been Detained, Lawyer Denies There Are Criminal Indictments

Leading cybersecurity professor from Indiana University, XiaoFeng Wang (photo: x @LeVPN_Espanol)

JAKARTA A prominent cybersecurity professor from Indiana University, XiaoFeng Wang, who was suddenly fired and disappeared from the public, has not been detained and has not faced criminal charges. This is as stated by his lawyer, Jason Covert.

This statement is the first official confirmation of the fate of Wang and his wife, Nianli Ma, since March 28, when the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) conducted a simultaneous search of the two houses associated with the couple. On the same day, Indiana University also ended Wang's contract suddenly.

Wang and Ma's absence from the public sparked widespread speculation in the cybersecurity community, with rumors that they had been detained or arrested. A number of media reports cited Wang's colleagues and students as saying the couple had not responded to communication efforts.

The FBI through its spokesperson only confirmed that it had committed "law enforcement actions that were authorized by the court," without providing further details on the allegations against Wang or when further information would be announced. DHS also did not provide any responses to various requests for comment.

Covert insists that neither Wang nor Ma were arrested and "no criminal charges we know of so far."

"Professor Wang and Mrs. Ma are very grateful for the support they received from colleagues at Indiana University as well as their colleagues in the academic community," Covert said in a statement. "They hope to clear their names and continue their careers after this investigation ends."

However, Covert refused to provide information about the couple's current physical location.

Riana Pfefferkorn, a researcher from Stanford University, filed a motion on April 1 to ask a federal court in Indiana's Southern District to open a search warrant document used by the government in operations against Wang and Ma.

On April 2, a federal judge ordered the United States Prosecutor for the Southern District of Indiana to respond to the request before April 17. Until now, the prosecutor's office has not commented.

Before being fired, Wang served as Dean of the Association for Research at the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering at Indiana University. Meanwhile, Ma works as a major system analyst and programmer at the Herman B. Wells Library.

Indiana University's legal professor and president of the Bloomington branch of the University of America's Professors Association, Alex Tanford, said Wang was contacted on the day of his dismissal.

Tanford explained that in mid-February, a complaint was filed against Wang regarding alleged ethical violations of research. The allegation states that Wang failed to correctly reveal who the main researchers were in the grant proposal and did not include all co-authors in a scientific publication of a violation that Tanford said appeared "sepele."

However, on March 13 or 14, the case escalated and Wang was told he would be temporarily suspended, barred from accessing his offices, computers, and research data, in line with university policies on ethical violations of research.

On March 28, the day federal agents conducted a search at his home, Wang received a letter from Provost Indiana University, Rahul Shrivastav, stating that he was "directly fired" for no apparent reason. Tanford considered this sudden dismissal violating university policies and "unauthorized."

According to Tanford, Wang's department informed unions that Wang had received job offers elsewhere for the coming school year and had given an early notification for the university to adjust its academic plans. Covert did not comment on Wang's future work plans.

"This is not an excuse for dismissal, and I have never heard anything like this happen in the 45 years I worked at this university," said Tanford.

"If administration can fire a professor with permanent status without legal proceedings and by violating policies approved by the Supervisory Board, then none of us are safe," he added.

The union sent a letter to university leaders on March 31 asking that Wang's dismissal be canceled and he was given the proper legal process.

University spokesman Mark Bode confirmed to Reuters that Indiana University had been notified of a federal investigation into one of its faculty members. However, at the direction of the FBI, the university will not provide public comments regarding this investigation.

According to his curriculum life history that had been available on university sites until September 2024, Wang studied at two universities in China in the 1990s before coming to the US. He worked as an IT software engineer and specialist before earning a doctorate from Carnegie Mellon University in 2004, which then led him to become an assistant professor at Indiana University.

The case is still growing, and the court's decision regarding the opening of the investigative documents is expected to provide a clearer picture of the allegations Wang and Ma may face.