A senior FBI cybersecurity official has revealed foreign government hackers have broken into institutions conducting research into treatments for COVID-19.
Deputy Assistant Director Tonya Ugoretz told an online panel discussion hosted by the Aspen Institute that the bureau had seen state-backed hackers poking around the US healthcare sector as well.
"We certainly have seen reconnaissance activity, and some intrusions, into some of those institutions, especially those that have publicly identified themselves as working on COVID-related research," she said.
Ugoretz said it made sense for organisations working on promising treatments or a potential vaccine to tout their work publicly. However, she said, "The sad flipside is that it kind of makes them a mark for other nation-states that are interested in gleaning details about what exactly they're doing and maybe even stealing proprietary information that those institutions have."
Ugoretz said that state-backed hackers had often targeted the biopharmaceutical industry but said "it's certainly heightened during this crisis."
The potential for hackers to target research and healthcare institutions related to coronavirus treatments and vaccines has been on US cybersecurity officials' radar since the start of the outbreak, which began in China late last year.
Last month, two independent attempts were made by different state-backed hacking groups to penetrate the World Health Organisation, which is helping to organise the global response to the epidemic.
Reuters
