New Delhi, November 27: North Korean hackers tried to target the system of the British COVID-19 vaccine manufacturer, AstraZeneca in recent weeks, according to a report in Reuters. The hackers imposed as recruiters on social networking platforms LinkedIn and WhataApp - and approached the staff at AstraZeneca with fake job offers, sources told Reuters.  Adding that, once the person responded for the job opportunity they would send documents for job description  that were laced with malicious code designed to gain access to a victim’s computer. COVID-19 Vaccine: UK Govt Asks Regulator to Approve Oxford-AstraZeneca Vaccine.

They attempted to target a 'board set of people' that were the part of COVID-19 research but were not successful. The North Korean mission to the United Nations in Geneva did not respond to a request for comment by Reuters. North Korea had earlier denied carrying out cyber attacks. The country has been infamous for breaking into the systems of defence companies and other media organisations, however attacks on COVID-19 related organisations took place in the recent weeks only, according to three people who have investigated the attacks. World News | Thailand Signs Supply Deals for AstraZeneca COVID-19 Vaccine.

According to the western officials  any stolen information could be sold for profit, used to extort the victims, or give foreign governments a valuable strategic advantage as they fight to contain a disease that has killed 1.4 million people worldwide. Tech-giant Microsoft said that it had seen two North Korean hacking groups target vaccine developers in multiple countries, including by “sending messages with fabricated job descriptions.”South Korean lawmakers  claimed   that the country’s intelligence agency had foiled some of those attempts.

Reuters previously reported that hackers from Iran, China and Russia have attempted to break into leading drug-makers and even the World Health Organisation. However, Tehran, Beijing and Moscow have denied the allegations. Some of the accounts used in the attacks on AstraZeneca were registered to Russian email addresses, one of the sources said, in a possible attempt to mislead investigators.

The USA had also accused for some of the world’s most audacious and damaging cyberattacks, including the hack and leak of emails from Sony Pictures in 2014, the 2016 theft of $81 million from the Central Bank of Bangladesh, and unleashing the Wannacry ransomware virus in 2017. Pyongyang however, described the allegations as part of attempts by Washington to smear its image.

 

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 27, 2020 07:25 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).