Russian and North Korean Hackers Target Covid-19 Vaccines

WASHINGTON - Multinational computer technology company Microsoft says it has detected attempts by hackers from Russia and state-backed North Korea to steal valuable data from pharmaceutical companies and Covid-19 vaccine researchers.

It said in a post on its blog on Friday (11/13/2020) that most of the cyber attacks launched by the hackers in recent months have been unsuccessful. But Microsoft did not provide information on how many were successful or how serious the attacks were.

Microsoft says most of the targets - located in Canada, France, India, South Korea and the United States - are directly involved in vaccine research and treatments for Covid-19.

Microsoft did not specify the hackers' target but said most had a Covid-19 vaccine candidate in various stages of clinical trials

The company identified one of the state-backed hacking groups as Fancy Bear, a Russian military agent who the UK's National Cyber ​​Security Center said in July was behind the intrusion attempt. The other two are North Korea's Lazarus Group and a group that Microsoft calls the Cerium group.

Most breach attempts involve attempts to steal the login credentials of people associated with the targeted organization.

"Lazarus Group is acting as a job recruiter while Cerium targets spear-phishing emails disguised as missives from representatives of the World Health Organization," Microsoft said as quoted by Al Arabiya.

The blog post coincided with Microsoft president Brad Smith's appearance at an international forum calling on countries to protect health care facilities from cyber attacks. This year, the Paris Peace Forum is taking place online.

Optimism about a Covid-19 vaccine has grown since pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced earlier this week that preliminary data showed the vaccine was 90 percent effective.

At the same time, Corona virus cases are soaring. In the United States (US), deaths per day from Covid-19 have surged more than 40 percent over the past two weeks to an average of more than 1,100, the highest level in three months.

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