Security services in the UK, US and Canada have warned that Russian hackers have started targeting organizations working on developing a coronavirus vaccine. In a new opinion, the UK's National Center for Cyber Security (NCSC) stated that these hackers "almost certainly" belonged to Russian intelligence services, "without specifying whether information about a possible vaccine had been stolen or what organizations had been robbed. In a statement to the Russian news agency Tass, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov denied responsibility for the recent attacks, saying: "We don't know who tried to carry out the hacking attacks on the UK, but Russia certainly has nothing to do with it. We are constantly faced with attempted cyberattacks against our computer databases and those of "Our departments. Our agencies regularly reject such attacks because it is a common problem. We strongly reject these baseless accusations against us."
Targeted Research on Coronavirus Vaccines
In addition to the UK NCSC, the Canadian Communication Security Establishment (CSE), the US Department of Homeland Security's Cyber Security Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the US National Security Agency (NSA) have also issued warnings of recent hacking attempts against the coronavirus. vaccine research. In recent years, Western security agencies have begun calling out hackers who are targeting companies and organizations in their countries to deter them. However, these latest charges are different in that they directly name Russian pirates rather than simply saying nation-state pirates. According to agencies in the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada, the hackers exploited vulnerabilities in the software to gain access to computer systems and used the WellMess and WellMail malware to recover files from all infected machines. The hackers also allegedly used phishing attacks to trick users into providing their login information. The NSCS believes that a hacking group called APT29, also known as Cozy Bear, is responsible for these hacking attempts. The organization also claims that it is more than 95% certain that the group is part of the Russian intelligence services. We won't know if Russian hackers are actually responsible until further investigation is done, but hampering research on coronavirus vaccines could be detrimental to everyone if these attacks are successful. Via BBC