Chinese hackers have stolen data from Spanish laboratories seeking a vaccine against Covid-19, the daily El Pais said on Friday.
This accusation arises as laboratories around the world have embarked on a frantic race to develop a vaccine against the virus which has already killed more than 940,000 people and infected more than 30 million around the world.
The number one Spanish intelligence (CNI) Paz Esteban, cited by El Pais, said that the hackers have developed "a particularly virulent campaign, not only in Spain, against laboratories working to find a vaccine", without more details on the cyber attack targeting Spain.
The head of the secret services also warned the press on Thursday against a "qualitative and quantitative" increase in computer attacks during confinement, with hackers targeting "sensitive sectors such as health and the pharmaceutical sector".
The increase in these attacks in countries seeking a vaccine has prompted them to increase exchanges between their respective intelligence services, she added.
Cyber attacks carried out from China or Russia
According to sources familiar with the matter cited by El Pais, the majority of these cyber-attacks were carried out from China or Russia, often by state organizations but also by criminals and academics who then market this precious data.
The attack on Spain was carried out from China, according to these sources.
Contacted by AFP, the CNI did not respond immediately.
READ ALSO>
Vaccine: "Convincing the French is going to be a big headache"
In July, a U.S. court in Washington prosecuted two Chinese citizens for stealing large amounts of data from hundreds of computers around the world, sometimes on behalf of Chinese government agencies.
Newsletter - Most of the news
Every morning, the news seen by Le Parisien
I'm registering
Your email address is collected by Le Parisien to enable you to receive our news and commercial offers.
Learn more
This wave of cyber-attacks spread over several years recently targeted the computer vulnerabilities of companies developing a vaccine against Covid-19, including some in Spain, one of the countries most affected by the pandemic in Europe.