Intel: Russians Hacking COVID Vaccine Research

With no response to Russia's criminal bounty on U.S. (and U.K.) troops in Afghanistan from their beholden Oval Office asset Donald "Tovarich" Trump, Russia apparently doesn't fear retaliation either for cyber theft of COVID-19 vaccine research from the U.S. and its western allies. Russian intelligence services, using groups going by various names ("APT29", and "Cozy Bear") as a front, are probing U.S., U.K., and Canadian vaccine research and development companies and institutions, seeking to steal proprietary information:

"An advisory published by the UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) details activity by the Russian hacking group and explicitly calls out efforts to target US, UK and Canadian vaccine research and development organizations. 

'APT29's campaign of malicious activity is ongoing, predominantly against government, diplomatic, think tank, healthcare and energy targets to steal valuable intellectual property,' a press release on the advisory said. 

Cozy Bear is one of two hacking groups linked to Russian intelligence that is believed to have accessed the Democratic National Committee's internal systems in the lead-up to the 2016 US election, but Thursday's announcement is the first time this group has been named in connection to cyberattacks related to the coronavirus pandemic.  [snip]

The NCSC, which is the UK's lead technical authority on cyber security and part of the UK's Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), assessed that APT29 'almost certainly operate as part of Russian Intelligence Services.'"  (our emphasis)

In addition to the valuable data they're collecting and profit from, it's not fanciful to think Russian intelligence may try to thwart researchers in developing a vaccine, to prolong the social and economic crisis in the U.S. and elsewhere, which in their "zero sum game" minds would benefit Russia. In any event, if this news develops into a major story, a compromised Trump can be expected to come to the defense of his Kremlin patrons, as he did in the Russian bounty scandal.

(photo: "Don't worry Vlad, I have your back.")