Caymans Post

A world within. A state apart.
Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Vacuna anticovid de Pfizer.

Hackers attack against covid-19 vaccines

The COVID-19 vaccines have awaken hackers, multiplying attacks to disrupt delivery or impound trade secrets, which requires laboratories and actors in the supply chain to be more attentive.
In a document published Thursday, the IBM IT group reported a series of cyberattacks targeting the vaccine supply chain, requiring doses to be stored and transported at very low temperatures.

Our team recently discovered a global 'phishing' campaign targeting organizations associated with the COVID-19 cold chain, IBM X-Force analysts Claire Zaboeva and Melissa Frydrych wrote in a cybersecurity blog.

The vaccine developed by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, which received the green light for commercialization in the United Kingdom on Wednesday, cannot be exposed to temperatures above -70 ° C to guarantee its effectiveness.

The General Directorate of Control and Customs, a service belonging to the European Commission, was one of the targets of the attack, as well as energy and computer companies from Germany, Italy, the Czech Republic, South Korea and Taiwan, according to IBM.

To catch their victims, the cybercriminals mainly used the method of "phishing", which consists of impersonating someone known to obtain confidential and sensitive data.

The hackers sent fraudulent emails on behalf of an alleged leader of the Chinese company Haier Biomedical, which is effectively part of the vaccine logistics chain and collaborates with the World Health Organization, Unicef ​​and other UN agencies.

In the messages they incited to supply passwords or identification data.

They also tried to attack pharmaceutical companies that develop vaccines such as the American Johnson & Johnson and Novavax, the British AstraZeneca and South Korean laboratories, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Spanish laboratories were attacked by Chinese cybercriminals, El País newspaper reported in September.

In November, the cold storage giant Americold reported an attack on its computer systems to the body in charge of controlling the United States Stock Exchange, without specifying whether that action was related to the group's role in the storage of vaccines.

IBM said it cannot determine who is behind these attacks, but assures that their nature and sophistication suggest a state actor.

For Mark Kedgleyc, from cybersecurity software provider New Net Technologies, the intellectual property tied to powerful pharmaceuticals is of immense value to cybercriminals.

In the case of vaccines against covid-19, it has to do with piracy at the level of nation-states, he estimated.

The Russian antivirus manufacturer Kaspersky reminds in this regard that identity theft techniques or email addresses hosted in a .ru domain, can be used to try to divert suspicions about the identity and, in particular, the nationality of the attackers.

Financial motivations cannot be ruled out either, given the high profits left by the commercialization of vaccines.

State and non-state actors try to use any situation to gain advantage, whether political or financial. It would have been inconceivable that covid-related efforts were not a target, said "Brett Callow of Emsisoft, a company specializing in cybersecurity.

The US agency in charge of cybersecurity, CISA, believed that IBM's report should be taken seriously.

CISA encourages all organizations involved in the storage and transport of vaccines to reinforce their protections, mainly for cold storage operations, and to remain vigilant of any activity in this sector, CISA researcher, Josh Corman said in a statement sent to AFP.

Laboratories are also on alert.

Most large pharmaceutical groups have the resources to detect and protect themselves from malicious code, Marene Allison, Johnson & Johnson's security manager, said Thursday.

Unfortunately, this is not the case for everyone in the healthcare industry, he added.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Caymans Post
0:00
0:00
Close
Paper straws found to contain long-lasting and potentially toxic chemicals - study
FTX's Bankman-Fried headed for jail after judge revokes bail
Blackrock gets half a trillion dollar deal to rebuild Ukraine
Israel: Unprecedented Civil Disobedience Looms as IDF Reservists Protest Judiciary Reform
America's First New Nuclear Reactor in Nearly Seven Years Begins Operations
Southeast Asia moves closer to economic unity with new regional payments system
Today Hunter Biden’s best friend and business associate, Devon Archer, testified that Joe Biden met in Georgetown with Russian Moscow Mayor's Wife Yelena Baturina who later paid Hunter Biden $3.5 million in so called “consulting fees”
Singapore Carries Out First Execution of a Woman in Two Decades Amid Capital Punishment Debate
Google testing journalism AI. We are doing it already 2 years, and without Google biased propoganda and manipulated censorship
Unlike illegal imigrants coming by boats - US Citizens Will Need Visa To Travel To Europe in 2024
Musk announces Twitter name and logo change to X.com
The politician and the journalist lost control and started fighting on live broadcast.
The future of sports
Unveiling the Black Hole: The Mysterious Fate of EU's Aid to Ukraine
Farewell to a Music Titan: Tony Bennett, Renowned Jazz and Pop Vocalist, Passes Away at 96
Alarming Behavior Among Florida's Sharks Raises Concerns Over Possible Cocaine Exposure
Transgender Exclusion in Miss Italy Stirs Controversy Amidst Changing Global Beauty Pageant Landscape
Joe Biden admitted, in his own words, that he delivered what he promised in exchange for the $10 million bribe he received from the Ukraine Oil Company.
TikTok Takes On Spotify And Apple, Launches Own Music Service
Global Trend: Using Anti-Fake News Laws as Censorship Tools - A Deep Dive into Tunisia's Scenario
Arresting Putin During South African Visit Would Equate to War Declaration, Asserts President Ramaphosa
Hacktivist Collective Anonymous Launches 'Project Disclosure' to Unearth Information on UFOs and ETIs
Typo sends millions of US military emails to Russian ally Mali
Server Arrested For Theft After Refusing To Pay A Table's $100 Restaurant Bill When They Dined & Dashed
The Changing Face of Europe: How Mass Migration is Reshaping the Political Landscape
China Urges EU to Clarify Strategic Partnership Amid Trade Tensions
Europe is boiling: Extreme Weather Conditions Prevail Across the Continent
The Last Pour: Anchor Brewing, America's Pioneer Craft Brewer, Closes After 127 Years
Democracy not: EU's Digital Commissioner Considers Shutting Down Social Media Platforms Amid Social Unrest
Sarah Silverman and Renowned Authors Lodge Copyright Infringement Case Against OpenAI and Meta
Italian Court's Controversial Ruling on Sexual Harassment Ignites Uproar
Why Do Tech Executives Support Kennedy Jr.?
The New York Times Announces Closure of its Sports Section in Favor of The Athletic
BBC Anchor Huw Edwards Hospitalized Amid Child Sex Abuse Allegations, Family Confirms
Florida Attorney General requests Meta CEO's testimony on company's platforms' alleged facilitation of illicit activities
The Distorted Mirror of actual approval ratings: Examining the True Threat to Democracy Beyond the Persona of Putin
40,000 child slaves in Congo are forced to work in cobalt mines so we can drive electric cars.
BBC Personalities Rebuke Accusations Amidst Scandal Involving Teen Exploitation
A Swift Disappointment: Why Is Taylor Swift Bypassing Canada on Her Global Tour?
Historic Moment: Edgars Rinkevics, EU's First Openly Gay Head of State, Takes Office as Latvia's President
Bye bye democracy, human rights, freedom: French Cops Can Now Secretly Activate Phone Cameras, Microphones And GPS To Spy On Citizens
The Poor Man With Money, Mark Zuckerberg, Unveils Twitter Replica with Heavy-Handed Censorship: A New Low in Innovation?
Unilever Plummets in a $2.5 Billion Free Fall, to begin with: A Reckoning for Misuse of Corporate Power Against National Interest
Beyond the Blame Game: The Need for Nuanced Perspectives on America's Complex Reality
Twitter Targets Meta: A Tangle of Trade Secrets and Copycat Culture
The Double-Edged Sword of AI: AI is linked to layoffs in industry that created it
US Sanctions on China's Chip Industry Backfire, Prompting Self-Inflicted Blowback
Meta Copy Twitter with New App, Threads
The New French Revolution
BlackRock Bitcoin ETF Application Refiled, Naming Coinbase as ‘Surveillance-Sharing’ Partner
×