Russia, Iran & China likely to be behind cyber-attacks on universities
Scientists at Oxford University are working to develop a vaccine against the Coronavirus.
Hostile states are trying to hack British universities & scientific facilities in order to steal Covid-19 research, which includes vaccine development, cyber-security experts have cautioned.
Reprehensible
The UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) observed that the number of such targeted cyber-attacks had increased, describing the criminal activity “reprehensible”.
It is believed that countries including Iran & Russia are behind the hacking attempts, while it is speculated that China is also a likely candidate.
Altogether, dozens of universities and institutions with biomedical facilities are currently working on Covid-19 research, which varies from new diagnostic & antibody tests to experimental treatment.
However, it is understood there have been no successful attacks on universities or research institutions to date.
Said the NCSC, “Any attack against efforts to combat the coronavirus crisis is utterly reprehensible. We have seen an increased proportion of cyber-attacks related to coronavirus & our experts work around the clock to help organisations targeted.
Stable
“However, the overall level of cyber-attacks from both criminals & states against the UK has remained stable during the pandemic.”
Oxford University, which is making world-leading level vaccine development & recently started human trials, responded that it was working with the NCSC in order to safeguard its research.
AstraZeneca, the renowned Cambridge-based pharmaceutical group, is now teaming up with the university to manufacture & distribute the vaccine if clinical trials show it works.
The university made a statement on the issue, “Oxford University is working closely with the NCSC to ensure our Covid-19 research has the best possible cyber-security & protection.”
Unsurprising
James Sullivan, who is formerly a Cyber-Analyst at the National Crime Agency (NCA) & Head of Cyber Research at the Royal United Services Institute, an international defence & security thinktank, observed that it was ‘unsurprising’ that hostile countries were now targeting Covid-19 researchers.
“The pandemic will lead to a general increase in hostile state cyber-activity,” he warned. “It is a new opportunity for intelligence gathering and disruption. We’ve seen this with disinformation campaigns, cyber-espionage; there’s a risk of these all exacerbating political tension & it’s no surprise this is happening in an area such as the development of a vaccine.”
Geopolitical Tensions
He went on to comment, “As we’ve seen with cyber-attacks, whether it’s a hostile nation state or an organised criminal, there’s no real boundaries to the types of data they try to steal, so why would this be any different if the development of a vaccine is a very competitive area? We’re seeing those geopolitical tensions played out in this space.”
The attacks highlighted the problems with cyber-security in the healthcare sector he further outlined. during 2017, the NHS became a victim to the ‘infamous’ global WannaCry ransomware attack, with tens of thousands of devices being severely affected.
Health Secretary, Matt Hancock has now also signed off on a directive giving GCHQ, the intelligence service, access & oversight to the NHS IT network.
Five Eyes
There is also a dossier written by Govts for the ‘Five Eyes’ nations, an intelligence alliance between Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK & the US. This alleges that China deliberately suppressed or destroyed evidence of the Coronavirus outbreak.
This action cost tens of thousands of lives, & this was highlighted in the document, which was obtained by the Australian Daily Telegraph, & which could be the basis for a worldwide case of ‘negligence’ being levelled against China.
Chinese
According to the dossier, the Chinese government covered-up the virus to the “endangerment of other countries” by silencing or “disappearing” doctors who broke ranks, destroying evidence of it in laboratories & refusing to provide live samples to international scientists who were busily working on a vaccine.
That some states have the ‘moral bankruptcy’ to attempt the activities described in this article is a sad reflection of aspects of the so-called ‘new world’ of 2020.
