AIRLINK 189.36 Increased By ▲ 1.33 (0.71%)
BOP 11.10 Decreased By ▼ -0.76 (-6.41%)
CNERGY 7.28 Decreased By ▼ -0.26 (-3.45%)
FCCL 36.65 Decreased By ▼ -1.14 (-3.02%)
FFL 14.95 Decreased By ▼ -0.29 (-1.9%)
FLYNG 26.19 Increased By ▲ 0.66 (2.59%)
HUBC 130.89 Increased By ▲ 0.74 (0.57%)
HUMNL 13.47 Decreased By ▼ -0.14 (-1.03%)
KEL 4.28 Decreased By ▼ -0.07 (-1.61%)
KOSM 6.08 Decreased By ▼ -0.09 (-1.46%)
MLCF 45.94 Increased By ▲ 0.26 (0.57%)
OGDC 201.86 Decreased By ▼ -4.57 (-2.21%)
PACE 6.12 Decreased By ▼ -0.26 (-4.08%)
PAEL 38.36 Decreased By ▼ -1.95 (-4.84%)
PIAHCLA 16.73 Decreased By ▼ -0.22 (-1.3%)
PIBTL 7.94 Decreased By ▼ -0.09 (-1.12%)
POWER 9.86 Decreased By ▼ -0.17 (-1.69%)
PPL 173.46 Decreased By ▼ -5.38 (-3.01%)
PRL 34.73 Decreased By ▼ -1.63 (-4.48%)
PTC 23.95 Decreased By ▼ -0.44 (-1.8%)
SEARL 101.74 Decreased By ▼ -1.42 (-1.38%)
SILK 1.07 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
SSGC 32.70 Decreased By ▼ -3.54 (-9.77%)
SYM 17.93 Decreased By ▼ -0.30 (-1.65%)
TELE 8.14 Decreased By ▼ -0.24 (-2.86%)
TPLP 12.02 Decreased By ▼ -0.14 (-1.15%)
TRG 67.40 Increased By ▲ 0.07 (0.1%)
WAVESAPP 11.80 Decreased By ▼ -0.21 (-1.75%)
WTL 1.52 Decreased By ▼ -0.05 (-3.18%)
YOUW 3.90 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.26%)
BR100 11,819 Decreased By -87.9 (-0.74%)
BR30 35,000 Decreased By -554.1 (-1.56%)
KSE100 112,085 Decreased By -478.8 (-0.43%)
KSE30 34,946 Decreased By -148 (-0.42%)

US authorities warned healthcare and scientific researchers Wednesday that Chinese-backed hackers were attempting to steal research and intellectual property related to treatments and vaccines for Covid-19.

Organizations researching the disease were warned of "likely targeting and network compromise by the People's Republic of China," a statement from the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said.

"These actors have been observed attempting to identify and illicitly obtain valuable intellectual property and public health data related to vaccines, treatments, and testing from networks and personnel affiliated with Covid-19-related research," they said.

"China's efforts to target these sectors pose a significant threat to our nations response to Covid-19," they said.

The two organizations gave no evidence or examples of their allegation against Beijing. But they urged "all organizations conducting research in these areas to maintain dedicated cybersecurity and insider threat practices to prevent surreptitious review or theft of Covid-19-related material."

On Monday US media reported that the FBI was poised to release the warning about vaccine-research hacking.

Asked about the coming report, President Donald Trump replied: "What else is new with China? What else is new? Tell me. I'm not happy with China."

"We're watching it very closely," he added.

In Beijing on Monday, Foreign Affairs ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian rejected the allegation, saying China firmly opposes all cyber attacks.

"We are leading the world in Covid-19 treatment and vaccine research. It is immoral to target China with rumors and slanders in the absence of any evidence," Zhao said.

The warning comes as dozens of companies, institutes and countries around the world are racing to develop vaccines to halt the spread of the coronavirus, which has killed at least 292,000 worldwide.

Many more groups are researching treatments for infected patients. Currently there is no proven treatment.

The warning adds to a series of alerts and reports accusing government-backed hackers in Iran, North Korea, Russia and China of malicious activity related to the coronavirus pandemic, from pumping out false news to targeting workers and scientists.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2020

Comments

Comments are closed.