Security News > 2020 > November > Somebody's Russian to meddle with UK coronavirus vaccine efforts, but GCHQ won't take it lying down

British eavesdropping agency GCHQ is actively hacking Russian attempts to undermine coronavirus vaccine efforts, according to The Times.

Some weeks ago a Russian misinformation campaign was brought to light, again by The Times, aiming to sow distrust of the safety and efficacy of a COVID-19 vaccine being developed by drug company AstraZeneca and Oxford University in the UK. The campaign reportedly claimed that because AZD1222 uses a replication-deficient chimpanzee viral vector, it could "Turn people into monkeys".

Two years ago GCHQ director Jeremy Fleming told the Cyber UK conference: "For well over a decade, starting in the conflict in Afghanistan, GCHQ has pioneered the development and use of offensive cyber techniques. And by that I mean taking action online that has direct real world impact."

A GCHQ spokeswoman told The Register the agency would neither confirm nor deny the Times story.

Russia's London embassy issued a statement in October, when the nation's disinformation campaign first came to light, saying: "The suggestion that the Russian State may conduct any kind of propaganda against the AstraZeneca vaccine is itself an example of disinformation. It is obviously aimed at discrediting Russia's efforts in combating the pandemic, including the good cooperation we have established with the UK in this field."

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2020/11/09/gchq_hacks_russia_vaccine_disinfo/