Microsoft: Russian, North Korean hackers target vaccine work
Boston: Microsoft said it has detected attempts by state-backed Russian and North Korean hackers to steal valuable data from leading pharmaceutical companies and vaccine researchers.
It said in a blogpost Friday that most of the attacks in recent months were unsuccessful, but provided no information on how many succeeded or how serious those breaches were.
Chinese state-backed hackers have also been targeting vaccine-makers, the U.S. government said in July while announcing criminal charges.
Microsoft said most of the targets located in Canada, France, India, South Korea, and the United States were directly involved in researching vaccines and treatments for COVID-19. It did not name the targets but said most had vaccine candidates in various stages of clinical trials.
The company identified one of the state-backed hacker groups like Fancy Bear, the Russian military agents who Britain's National Cyber Security Center said in July were behind such intrusion attempts. Two others were North Korea's Lazarus Group and a group Microsoft calls Cerium.
Most of the break-in efforts involved attempts to steal the login credentials of people associated with the targeted organizations. The Lazarus Group posed as job recruiters while Cerium targeted spear-phishing emails that masqueraded as missives from World Health Organization representatives, Microsoft said.
The blog post coincided with an appearance by Microsoft president Brad Smith at an international forum calling on nations to protect health care facilities from cyberattacks. This year, the Paris Peace Forum is taking place online.
Optimism about a COVID-19 vaccine has grown since pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced earlier this week that preliminary data showed its vaccine to be 90 percent effective.
At the same time, coronavirus cases are surging. In the U.S., deaths per day have soared more than 40 percent over the past two weeks to an average of more than 1,100, the highest level in three months.
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Standing firmly with armed forces; time for unity, solidarity: Congress
New Delhi(PTI): This is a time for unity and solidarity and the Congress is standing firmly with the armed forces, the party said on Wednesday as Indian armed forces carried out missile strikes on terror targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said India's commitment to eliminating all sources of terrorism in Pakistan and PoK has necessarily to be uncompromising and always be anchored in the supreme national interest.
"This is a time for unity and solidarity. Right from the night of April 22nd, the Congress has been categorically stating that the government will have our fullest support in the nation's response to the Pahalgam terror attack," he said.
"The Congress is standing firmly with our armed forces," Ramesh said on X, using the hashtag "Operation Sindoor".
In retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack, Indian armed forces carried out missile strikes early Wednesday on nine terror targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, including the Jaish-e-Mohammad stronghold of Bahawalpur and Lashkar-e-Taiba's base Muridke.
The military strikes were carried out under Operation Sindoor two weeks after the massacre of 26 civilians in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam.
"A little while ago, the Indian armed forces launched 'Operation Sindoor' hitting terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir from where terrorist attacks against India have been planned and directed," the defence ministry said in a statement at 1.44 am.
It said the actions by the Indian armed forces have been "focused, measured and non-escalatory" in nature and that no Pakistani military facilities have been targeted.
"प्रहाराय सन्निहिताः, जयाय प्रशिक्षिताः"
— ADG PI - INDIAN ARMY (@adgpi) May 6, 2025
Ready to Strike, Trained to Win.#IndianArmy pic.twitter.com/M9CA9dv1Xx
