Coronavirus: Hackers targeted Covid vaccine supply ‘cold chain’


Read Time: 3 minutes
The international vaccine supply chain has been targeted by cyber-espionage, according to IBM.

The company says it tracked a campaign aimed at the delivery “cold chain” used to keep vaccines at the right temperature during transportation.

The attackers’ identity is unclear – but IBM said the sophistication of their methods indicated a nation state.

It follows warnings from governments – including the UK’s – of countries targeting aspects of vaccine research.

Phishing emails

IBM says it believes the campaign started in September 2020.

It says phishing emails were sent out across six countries, which targeted organisations linked to the Cold Chain Equipment Optimisation Platform (CCEOP) of Gavi, the international vaccine alliance.

Gavi’s partners include the World Health Organization, Unicef, the World Bank and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. They help distribute vaccines around the world to some of the poorest regions.

This sometimes requires a “cold chain”.

Malicious code

For example, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine – which was not the specific target of this campaign – will need to be kept at a temperature of about -70C as it is moved about.

The attackers impersonated a business executive from a legitimate Chinese company involved in CCEOP’s supply cold chain to make it more likely the targets would engage with the email.

They then sent phishing emails to organisations that provided transportation, which contained malicious code and asked for people’s log in credentials.

That could have allowed them to understand the infrastructure that governments intended to use to distribute vaccines.

“Advanced insight into the purchase and movement of a vaccine that can impact life and the global economy is likely a high-value and high-priority nation-state target,” IBM says.

‘Precision targeting’

IBM says the wider targeting included:

  • the European Commission’s Directorate General Taxation and Customs Union
  • companies involved in manufacturing solar panels, which can be used to keep vaccines cold in places where reliable power is not available
  • a South Korean software-development company
  • a German website-development company, which supports clients associated with pharmaceutical manufacturers, container transport, biotechnology and manufacturers of electrical components for communications

IBM says the campaign was uncovered by a security team it set up at the start of the pandemic to track down Covid-19 cyber-threats.

“The precision targeting and nature of the specific targeted organisations potentially point to nation-state activity,” the US company said.

“Without a clear path to a [pay]out, cyber-criminals are unlikely to devote the time and resources required to execute such a calculated operation.”

Intelligence gathering

IBM says it has notified those targeted as well as law-enforcement authorities.

The US’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (Cisa) has issued an alert encouraging organisations associated with the storage and transport of a vaccine to be on guard for the kind of attacks linked to IBM’s report.

In July, the UK warned Russian intelligence had targeted UK vaccine research, including at Oxford.

The US also warned of Chinese hacking, while, more recently, Microsoft said it had seen North Korean and Russian hackers targeting vaccine research.

Officials suggested the activity so far had been about intelligence gathering rather than disruption of any research.


39 thoughts on “Coronavirus: Hackers targeted Covid vaccine supply ‘cold chain’

  1. My coder is trying to persuade me to move to .net from PHP.
    I have always disliked the idea because of the expenses.
    But he’s tryiong none the less. I’ve been using WordPress on several websites for about a year and am concerned about
    switching to another platform. I have heard very good things about blogengine.net.
    Is there a way I can transfer all my wordpress content into it?

    Any help would be greatly appreciated!

  2. Sweet blog! I found it while surfing around
    on Yahoo News. Do you have any suggestions on how to
    get listed in Yahoo News? I’ve been trying for a while but I never seem to get there!
    Thanks

  3. A fascinating discussion is definitely worth comment. I do think that you should publish more
    on this issue, it may not be a taboo matter but typically people don’t discuss these subjects.
    To the next! Kind regards!!

  4. Wow, fantastic blog layout! How long have you been blogging for?
    you made blogging look easy. The overall look of your site is excellent,
    let alone the content!

  5. When I initially commented I clicked the “Notify me when new comments are added” checkbox and now each time a comment is added I get several emails with the same comment.

    Is there any way you can remove people from that service?
    Many thanks!

  6. Does your site have a contact page? I’m having a tough time locating it but, I’d like to send you an e-mail.
    I’ve got some ideas for your blog you might be interested in hearing.
    Either way, great website and I look forward to seeing it expand over time.

  7. Undeniably imagine that which you said. Your favourite justification appeared to be at the web the simplest
    factor to bear in mind of. I say to you, I certainly get irked even as people consider issues that they just don’t recognise
    about. You managed to hit the nail upon the highest and
    outlined out the whole thing with no need side effect
    , other people can take a signal. Will likely be again to get more.

    Thanks

  8. That is very fascinating, You are a very professional blogger.
    I’ve joined your feed and look ahead to seeking extra of your excellent post.
    Additionally, I have shared your web site in my social networks

  9. Good way of describing, and good post to obtain information regarding my presentation subject matter,
    which i am going to present in college.

  10. I used to be suggested this blog through my cousin. I am
    now not certain whether this publish is written by way of
    him as nobody else understand such detailed about my difficulty.
    You are amazing! Thanks!

  11. Hi there this is somewhat of off topic but I
    was wanting to know if blogs use WYSIWYG editors or if you have to manually
    code with HTML. I’m starting a blog soon but have no coding knowledge
    so I wanted to get advice from someone with
    experience. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

  12. Wow, fantastic blog layout! How lengthy have you been running a blog for?
    you made running a blog glance easy. The total glance of your site is fantastic, let alone the content
    material!

  13. I all the time used to study piece of writing in news papers
    but now as I am a user of internet therefore from
    now I am using net for articles or reviews, thanks to web.

  14. This design is incredible! You most certainly know how to keep a reader entertained.
    Between your wit and your videos, I was almost moved to start my own blog (well, almost…HaHa!) Wonderful job.
    I really loved what you had to say, and more than that, how you presented
    it. Too cool!

  15. Good day! Would you mind if I share your blog with my facebook group?
    There’s a lot of folks that I think would really appreciate your
    content. Please let me know. Many thanks

  16. I got this web page from my friend who shared with me regarding this website
    and at the moment this time I am browsing this site and reading very informative posts at
    this time.

  17. What’s up to every one, the contents existing at this web page
    are genuinely awesome for people experience, well, keep up the good
    work fellows.

  18. Pretty part of content. I just stumbled upon your website and in accession capital to say that I acquire actually enjoyed account your
    weblog posts. Any way I will be subscribing on your
    feeds and even I success you get right of entry to constantly quickly.

  19. Aw, this was a very good post. Finding the time and actual effort to create a top notch article… but what can I say… I procrastinate
    a lot and never manage to get anything done.

  20. That is a good tip especially to those fresh to the blogosphere.
    Simple but very accurate information… Many thanks for sharing this one.
    A must read article!

  21. I am really impressed with your writing skills as well as with the layout on your
    weblog. Is this a paid theme or did you modify
    it yourself? Either way keep up the excellent quality
    writing, it’s rare to see a nice blog like this
    one nowadays.

  22. Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally,
    it seems as though you relied on the video to make your point.
    You definitely know what youre talking about, why waste your intelligence on just posting videos to
    your site when you could be giving us something informative to
    read?

  23. You’re so interesting! I don’t suppose I’ve truly read through something
    like that before. So nice to discover another person with some unique thoughts
    on this topic. Really.. thank you for starting this up.

    This website is something that’s needed on the web,
    someone with a little originality!

  24. Hello there, You’ve done an incredible job. I will certainly digg it and personally recommend to my friends.

    I am confident they will be benefited from this site.

  25. Aw, this was an extremely nice post. Taking the time and actual effort to make a very good article… but what can I
    say… I put things off a lot and never seem to get nearly anything done.

  26. Definitely believe that which you stated. Your favorite reason appeared to be on the net the easiest thing to be aware of.
    I say to you, I certainly get irked while people think about worries that they plainly do not know about.
    You managed to hit the nail upon the top and
    also defined out the whole thing without having side effect , people could take a signal.

    Will likely be back to get more. Thanks

  27. Oh my goodness! Amazing article dude! Thanks, However I am going through
    troubles with your RSS. I don’t know the reason why I cannot subscribe to it.
    Is there anyone else having similar RSS problems? Anyone that knows the solution can you kindly respond?
    Thanx!!

  28. Normaliter resulteert dit in een groot en divers aanbod van goederen en diensten. Allocatie wordt vrijwel volledig bepaald door de staat of de partij: investeringsbeslissingen, wat geproduceerd wordt en in welke hoeveelheden, prijzen.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *