North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on November 15. 朝鮮 通信 社 / AP
Alleged hackers from North Korea have attempted to break into the systems of British drug maker AstraZeneca in recent weeks, two people with knowledge of the matter have told Reuters.
Astrazeneca and the University of Oxford are one of the teams leading the race against the covid 19 vaccine. Everything seems to indicate that they have not been successful, says Reuters.
Hackers posed as staff recruiters on LinkedIn and WhatsApp to target AstraZeneca staff with fake job offers, the sources explained.
Subsequently, they were sent documents purporting to be job descriptions.
These contained malicious code designed to access the victim's computer.
According to the news agency, this attack has targeted a "large group of people", including personnel working on the research of the vaccine against covid-19, according to the sources.
Astrazeneca has declined to comment to the agency.
The sources explained that the tools and techniques used in the attacks appear to show that they are part of an ongoing hacking campaign that the US Administration and cybersecurity researchers have attributed to North Korea.
Cyberattacks against health organizations, vaccine scientists and drug manufacturers have exploded during the COVID-19 pandemic, as various hacker groups try to obtain the latest research and information on the outbreak, given that any information stolen it could be sold, used to extort money from victims, or give foreign governments a valuable strategic advantage in their fight to contain the disease.
Hackers from the North Korean regime have been very active in targeting interests related to the COVID-19 vaccine, according to several recent reports.
The South Korean government has reported this Friday that its intelligence agency has thwarted the neighboring country's attempts to hack South Korean companies that develop coronavirus vaccines, according to the News1 agency cited by Reuters.
In this case, the operation ended without the pirates achieving their objectives.
Last week, Microsoft reported that hackers working for the governments of Russia and North Korea had tried to break into the networks of seven pharmaceutical companies and vaccine researchers in South Korea, Canada, France, India and the United States.
The AstraZeneca vaccine made headlines this week because of the doubts raised by the project.
Last Monday, the pharmacist and the University of Oxford issued separate statements in which they assured that the effectiveness of their vaccine was between 62 and 90%, depending on the dose.
The announcement sowed more confusion than certainties and the company's shares fell nearly 4%.
On Tuesday, the chief scientist for the US operation to accelerate the development of a vaccine, Moncef Slaoui, suggested that the 90% efficacy had been seen in just one arm of the trial with some 2,700 people under the age of 55, generating even more uncertainty about the project.
You can follow EL PAÍS TECNOLOGÍA RETINA on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or subscribe here to our Newsletter.
