The three governments pointed the finger at the Kremlin, saying that a piracy organization called APT29 “almost certainly” was connected to Russian intelligence.
In a separate statement, London said that “Russian actors” had attempted to halt last year’s British general election by circulating leaked industry documents between Britain and the United States.
Both accusations came here even before the publication in the coming days of a long-awaited British parliamentarian about Russia’s alleged interference in the 2016 Brexit vote.
Russia temporarily dismissed the accusations as “unfounded.”
The United Kingdom’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and Canada’s Communications Security Establishment (CSE) said Thursday that APT29 was “a cyber espionage group, almost certainly part of the Russian intelligence services,” adding their the assessment was endorsed by their US counterpart.
Throughout 2020, APT29 has targeted organizations interested in the progression of COVID-19 vaccines in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom, the highest likely with the aim of stealing high-level data and assets similar to the progression and testing of COVID-19 vaccines, he said.
The organization is likely to “continue to target the organizations involved in the studies and progression of COVID-19 vaccines as they seek to answer more questions from pandemic-like data.”
In a separate statement, the U.S. National Security Agency reiterated the allegations and said APT29 “uses equipment and techniques to primarily target government, diplomatic, center, fitness, and power targets for intelligence purposes.”
Russia and Britain have been at odds since Moscow accused of attempting to kill double agent Sergei Skripal with a military-grade nerve agent in 2018.
In Salisbury, south-west England, they arrived here 12 years after the radiation poisoning of former spy Alexander Litvinenko in London. Again, Russia has denied any involvement.
– “Completely unacceptable” –
Britain is one of a number of countries conducting human vaccine trials for COVID-19. One, at the University of Oxford, showed potential positive results, media reports said on Thursday.
But the National Cyber Security Centre, a component of British wiretapping firm GCHQ, said the labs were among the targets “to borrow valuable high-value goods.”
NCSC’s chief operating officer Paul Chichester said known targets included studies of British, US and Canadian vaccines and progression organizations that included malware techniques.
APT29, also known as “The Dukes” or “Cosy Bear,” had also attempted to hack into government, diplomatic, tank and power groups, he added.
Nearly 600,000 more people have died and more than 13.5 million have become inflamed in this year’s coronavirus outbreak.
British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said attacking those who run to locate a vaccine is “totally unacceptable.”
“While others pursue their self-centered interests with reckless behavior, the UK and its allies continue the harsh paintings of locating a vaccine and protecting global health,” he added.
– Electoral interference –
Previously, the government had said that there was strong suspicion of a Russian link to the leak of documents classified in a conceivable post-Brexit industry agreement with the United States.
An investigation submitted after the archives were posted on the Social Media site Reddit and then took over the main opposition Labour party.
They used them on their crusade for the December 12 election, and said they proved That Prime Minister Boris Johnson would “sell” the state fitness sector to US President Donald Trump.
Investment in health is a key factor in the crusade and Johnson is continually forced to deny this claim.
Jeremy Corthroughn, then a Labour leader, dismissed claims that the leak had been introduced to Russia as a “conspiracy theory.”
Raab accused Moscow of direct participation.
But he said that “almost certainly Array … Russian actors” were concerned about publishing the leaked documents online.
Johnson and his conservative ruler won a massive majority in the election, allowing him to approve his Brexit agreement to get Britain out of the European Union.
Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee introduced an investigation into suspected Russian interference in the 2016 Brexit vote after considering allegations of interference in Trump’s US presidential election.
The report ended last year, but the publication was delayed first through the election and then by the fact that Johnson did not appoint new members to the committee.
This despite all that happened last week and members had their first assembly on Thursday, where they agreed to publish the report on Russia until next Wednesday.
This story published from a firm thread without converting the text. Only the name has been changed.
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