Russian hackers trying to steal Covid-19 vaccine data, UK says

Hackers backed by the Russian state are trying to steal Covid-19 vaccine and treatment research from academic and pharmaceutical institutions around the world, Britain's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) said on Thursday.

A co-ordinated statement from Britain, the US and Canada attributed the attacks to group APT29, also known as ‘Cozy Bear’, which they said was almost certainly operating as part of Russian intelligence services.

“We condemn these despicable attacks against those doing vital work to combat the coronavirus pandemic,” said NCSC director of operations Paul Chichester.

British foreign minister Dominic Raab said it was “completely unacceptable” for Russian intelligence services to target work on the pandemic.

“While others pursue their selfish interests with reckless behaviour, the UK and its allies are getting on with the hard work of finding a vaccine and protecting global health,” he said in a statement. He said Britain would work with allies to hold perpetrators to account.

The NCSC said the group's attacks were continuing and used a variety of tools and techniques, including spear-phishing and custom malware.

“APT29 is likely to continue to target organisations involved in Covid-19 vaccine research and development, as they seek to answer additional intelligence questions relating to the pandemic,” the NCSC statement said.

Canadian authorities said the attacks were hindering response efforts and that risks to health organisations were elevated. Canada's signals intelligence and cyber threat centre advised institutions to take action to protect themselves.

Britain and the US said in May that networks of hackers were targeting national and international organisations responding to the Covid-19 pandemic. But such attacks have not previously been explicitly connected to the Russian state.

The Russian government-linked group Cozy Bear is widely suspected of hacking the Democratic Party ahead of the 2016 US election.

On Thursday, the Kremlin rejected Western allegations Russia had tried to steal Covid-19 vaccine data, Russian news agencies reported. Britain's National Cyber Security Centre said earlier on Thursday that hackers backed by the Russian state were trying to steal Covid-19 vaccine and treatment research from academic and pharmaceutical institutions around the world.

The US and Canada made the same allegations. TASS cited Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov as saying Russia had nothing to do any alleged hacker attacks on pharmaceutical companies and research institutes in Britain. RIA cited Peskov as saying the Kremlin rejected London's allegations, which he said were not backed by proper evidence. — Reuters