WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Hackers connected to the Chinese government this year attacked the US pharmaceutical company Moderna Inc., an American developer of coronavirus vaccine research, in an effort to borrow data, according to a U.S. security official tracking Chinese piracy. .
China on Friday rejected the accusation that the hackers connected to it had Moderna.
Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice issued an indictment against two Chinese citizens accused of spying in the United States, adding 3 unnamed U.S. targets related to medicine to combat the new coronavirus.
According to the indictment, Chinese hackers “performed an opposite reconnaissance” on the computer network of a Massachusetts biotechnology company known to be using a coronavirus vaccine in January.
Modern, which was founded in Massachusetts and announced its COVID-19 vaccine candidate in January, showed Reuters that the company had been in contact with the FBI and reported alleged “information popularity activities” through the hacking organization that was last discussed in this week’s indictment. .
Recognition activities can come with a variety of actions, adding vulnerability localization on public Internet sites and account detection after network entry, according to cybersecurity experts.
“Modern remains very alert to potential cybersecurity threats, maintaining an in-house team, outside aid facilities, and smart-running relationships with external government to frequently assess threats and protect our valuable information,” corporate spokesman Ray Jordan said, refusing to provide additional details.
The U.S. security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, provided additional details. The FBI and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services They have refused to disclose the identities of corporations attacked by Chinese hackers.
Moderna’s candidate vaccine is one of the first in the Trump administration and opposes the pandemic.
The federal government is supporting the company’s nearly $1 billion vaccine progression and is helping Moderna launch a clinical trial with another 30,000 people starting this month.
China is also rushing to expand a vaccine, combining its state, military and personnel sectors to combat a disease that has killed more than 660,000 people worldwide.
The July 7 indictment alleges that the two Chinese hackers, known as Li Xiaoyu and Dong Jiazhi, carried out a series of 10-year attacks that more recently included COVID-19 medical study teams.
Prosecutors said Li and Dong acted as contractors for the Chinese State Ministry of Security, a state intelligence agency. Messages left with accounts registered under Li’s virtual alias, oro0lxy, were not returned. Dong’s touch data was not available.
China has denied any role in piracy and its Beijing Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin has dismissed the accusation that government-linked hackers attacked Moderna as “unfounded.”
China is leading the world in creating a coronavirus vaccine and is more involved than other countries are hackers to borrow their technology, he said.
“Surely we don’t want to have interaction on the flights to achieve this leadership position,” Wang said.
The other two unidentified medical study corporations discussed in the Justice Department’s indictment are described as biotechnology corporations in California and Maryland. Prosecutors said the hackers had “looked for vulnerabilities” and “performed a reconnaissance” against them.
The court record describes that the California-based company is running in antiviral drug studies and suggests that the Maryland-based company publicly announced its efforts to expand a vaccine in January. Two corporations that may have support for these descriptions: Gilead Sciences Inc and Novavax Inc.
Gilead spokesman Chris Ridley said the company does comment on cybersecurity issues. Novavax commented on express cybersecurity activities, but said, “Our cybersecurity team has been alerted to the alleged known foreign threats in the news.”
A security representative familiar with piracy investigations involving major biotechnology corporations over the past year said Chinese teams suspected of being broadly related to China’s Ministry of State Security are one of the main forces targeting COVID-19 studies globally. This corresponds to the description of the accused hackers, as ministry contractors.
Reporting through Christopher Bing and Marisa Taylor; Additional report through Yew Lun Tian in Beijing; Editing by Chris Sanders and Lisa Shumaker
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