US investigators, experts say Chinese are hacking coronavirus vaccine research: reports
- The FBI and US Department of Homeland Security are planning to release a warning about the hacking as governments race to develop a vaccine, two reports say
- China’s foreign affairs ministry spokesman rejected the allegation, saying China firmly opposes all cyberattacks
The US government is preparing an official warning that Chinese hackers and spies have mounted an effort to steal American research aimed at developing a vaccine for Covid-19, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.
The warning could be released by the FBI and US Department of Homeland Security “in the coming days”, The Times reported, adding that Chinese hackers were also after information on Covid-19 treatments and testing in addition to vaccines.
Reports of the US government being on high alert for attempts by Chinese entities to hack into coronavirus research databases follow several advances by US companies on possible solutions to help bring the pandemic under control.
Moderna, which is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, received regulatory approval last week to start phase-two trials on its mRNA 1273 vaccine candidate, one of several possible Covid-19 vaccines being developed in collaboration with the US government to speed the process.
Moderna’s chief medical officer, Tal Zaks, said last week that the vaccine might be available by the end of the year for segments of the population most at risk, including the elderly, assuming that phase-two trials demonstrate efficacy and regulators move quickly to approve the vaccine for these groups.
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The research, led by University of Hong Kong academics, found that using the antiviral drugs interferon beta-1b, lopinavir-ritonavir and ribavirin together was “safe and more effective” in reducing the duration of viral shedding – when the coronavirus is detectable and potentially transmissible – for patients with mild to moderate symptoms, while accelerating their recovery.
Abbvie, whose headquarters are in Chicago, produces lopinavir-ritonavir, and ribavirin is made by several companies in the US, including Washington-based Genentech.
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Zhao Lijian responded to the US media reports by saying that China has made progress in developing treatments.
“We are leading the world in Covid-19 treatment and vaccine research. It is immoral to target China with rumours and slanders in the absence of any evidence,” Zhao told reporters in Beijing.
Asked about the reports of Chinese hacking in Washington on Monday, US President Donald Trump said: “What else is new? We're watching it very closely.”
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“I’m not happy with China,” Trump added. “They should have stopped [the spread of the coronavirus] at the source. They could have stopped it right at the source.”
The New York Times said the US government’s expected warning about Chinese spying could pave the way for officially sanctioned operations by US agencies involved in cyber warfare, including the Pentagon’s Cyber Command and the National Security Agency.
Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre and the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said they had detected large-scale “password spraying” tactics – hackers trying to access accounts through commonly used passwords – aimed at health care bodies and medical research organisations.
Additional reporting by Agence-France Presse
