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IBM warned on Thursday that it had uncovered a series of cyber attacks, potentially carried out by state actors, against companies involved in the effort to distribute doses of vaccines, which must be kept cold.
Image: 123rf.
NEW YORK, United States – With several vaccines about to become available in a world affected by the coronavirus pandemic, manufacturers have become the target of hackers trying to steal trade secrets or disrupt supply chains.
IBM warned on Thursday that it had uncovered a series of cyber attacks, potentially carried out by state actors, against companies involved in the effort to distribute doses of vaccines, which must be kept cold.
IBM said the European Commission’s Directorate General for Taxes and Customs Union was one of the targets of the attacks, as well as European and Asian companies involved in the supply chain, whose names have not been disclosed.
“Our team recently discovered a global phishing campaign targeting organizations associated with a COVID-19 cold chain,” wrote Claire Zaboeva and Melissa Frydrych, analysts at IBM X-Force, a cybersecurity task force, in a post. blog.
The purpose “may have been to collect credentials, possibly to gain unauthorized access in the future to corporate networks and sensitive information related to the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine.”
It was unclear whether the attacks were successful, IBM said, and while it was unable to identify those responsible for the attacks, the accuracy of the operation points to “possible characteristics of the nation-state commercial industry.”
The vaccine developed by Pfizer and the German company BioNTech, which on Wednesday received a green light from Britain to distribute its vaccine, must be stored below -70 degrees Celsius to ensure its effectiveness.
That means it will require specialized logistics companies like Haier Biomedical, a Chinese-owned cold chain supply company that works with the World Health Organization and the United Nations.
The hackers posed as a Haier Biomedical executive, and “disguised as this employee, the adversary sent phishing emails to organizations believed to be providers of material support to meet transportation needs within the cold chain. COVID-19, “Zaboeva and Frydrych wrote.
Moderna has also developed a vaccine that should be stored at -20 degrees Celsius, while the AstraZeneca version can be stored in a normal freezer.
WAVE OF ATTACKS
Cybercriminals have also attempted to target a number of pharmaceutical companies that develop vaccines, including Johnson & Johnson, Novavax, AstraZeneca and South Korean laboratories, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Spanish labs have also reportedly been targeted by Chinese cybercriminals, newspaper El País reported in September.
Cold storage giant Americold last month reported an attack on its computer systems to the US stock market regulator, without specifying whether the attack was related to the group’s role in vaccine storage.
“Intellectual property related to mass market pharmaceuticals is of tremendous value and is therefore a major prize for a cybercriminal,” said Mark Kedgley, chief technology officer at New Net Technologies (NNT), a software provider. Cybersecurity and Compliance Officer based in Naples, Florida. .
And COVID-19 vaccines attract “nationwide piracy.”
The expert countries most linked to cyber attacks are Russia, China and North Korea, although there is no formal evidence of their involvement in the recent incidents.
But cybersecurity firm Kapersky notes the use of “false flags”, including email addresses linked to Russia, in a possible move to deflect blame for the attacks.
There could also be economic motives behind the attacks.
Brett Callow, a threat analyst at Emisoft, said the attacks are not surprising.
“State or non-state actors will try to use whatever situation they can to gain an advantage, be it political or financial,” he told AFP. “It is quite inconceivable that anything related to COVID is not attacked.”
The US federal cybersecurity agency CISA said IBM’s report should be taken seriously by organizations involved in the vaccine supply chain.
“CISA encourages all organizations involved in the storage and transport of vaccines to toughen attack surfaces, particularly in cold storage operations, and to remain vigilant for any activity in this space,” Josh Corman, strategist at CISA.
The laboratories will also be on alert.
“Many of the big pharmaceutical companies have the cybersecurity skills and organizations to be able to detect this type of malicious code and protect against it,” said Marrene Allison, director of information security at Johnson & Johnson, during a conference hosted by Aspen. . Institute.
But, he said, “unfortunately, not everyone has that in the health care industry.”
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