Security News > 2020 > May > Surprise surprise! Hostile states are hacking coronavirus vaccine research, warn UK and USA intelligence

Foreign state hackers are trying to brute-force their way into pharmaceutical and medical research agencies hunting for a COVID-19 vaccine, British and American infosec agencies are warning.

The National Cyber Security Centre and America's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency cautioned of a "Password spraying" campaign targeting healthcare and medical research organisations.

Paul Chichester, NCSC director of operations, said in a statement: "Protecting the healthcare sector is the NCSC's first and foremost priority at this time, and we're working closely with the NHS to keep their systems safe."

A lightly detailed advisory note published [PDF] by NCSC explained: "The NCSC and CISA are currently investigating a number of incidents in which threat actors are targeting pharmaceutical companies, medical research organisations, and universities".

NCSC's Chichester warned that his agency "Can't do this alone," and called on "Healthcare policy makers and researchers" to "Take our actionable steps to defend themselves from password spraying campaigns."

News URL

https://go.theregister.co.uk/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2020/05/05/coronavirus_research_hacking/