Chinese and Russian spies are trying to get details on US vaccine developments against the coronavirus epidemic, and analysts say the fighting between intelligence services is getting worse.

Coronavirus: the second wave

Half a year after the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in the spring, the second wave of the pandemic has arrived. The radical increase in the number of infected is forcing more and more countries to re-impose restrictions, despite the fact that the world economy has not even recovered from the effects of the spring outbreak. According to the posters, the second wave also reached Hungary. Follow our news!

Chinese intelligence agents, thinking they could find an easy target, did not even attack the pharmaceutical companies, but instead tried to break into the computer systems of the scientific institutes that developed the vaccine. But, as it turned out, they weren’t the only ones trying, Russian military and civilian intelligence agents also tried to break into the computers of British, Canadian and American research institutes.

According to The New York Times, Iran, also affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, has made similar efforts to acquire the knowledge necessary to make the vaccine, and foreign organizations often fight each other to find important information.

According to the newspaper, the US government responded by strengthening the computer systems of research institutes and universities, and NATO, which already has experience in repelling several intrusion attempts, has joined the action.

The Americans accuse China of taking advantage of its close relationship with the World Health Organization to listen to the UN and figure out where to break in in the first place. Not only are the Chinese trying to break servers, they are also taking advantage of collaborative research projects with American universities in the past. According to The New York Times, the United States finally decided to shut down the Chinese consulate in Houston because Chinese spies working there had already started collecting data on scientists working at universities and research institutes in and around the city.

As for the Russians, the vaccine was also investigated by a group called Cozy Bear, a hacker linked to the Russian intelligence services, who was also accused of manipulating the 2016 US presidential election, such as hacking Democratic Party servers. Authorities who told the newspaper say foreign services have been unable to steal important information about servers in western states.

However, intrusions also jeopardize the investigation: it is not excluded that data is corrupted as a result of intrusion attempts, and attackers may also intentionally destroy found files. According to various American experts, the intensity of the spy war is already similar to that of the Cold War period, when opponents were primarily seeking to obtain the other party’s military secrets.



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