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Washington accuses China of attempting to hack vaccine research

2020-05-13T19:45:06.855Z



The United States publicly accused China on Wednesday of attempting to hack US research into a vaccine against the coronavirus, a further escalation in the already very intense tensions between Washington and Beijing over the pandemic.

Read also: Coronavirus: "There will be three or four vaccines at the end of the year"

"The health, pharmaceutical and research sectors working on Covid-19 responses must all be aware that they are the primary targets of this activity and take the necessary measures to protect their systems," warned federal police. and the cybersecurity agency in an official warning. "China's attempts to target these sectors pose a serious threat to our country's response to Covid-19," they said.

The FBI specifies in particular "to investigate" on "non-traditional cyber-actors and informants affiliated with the People's Republic of China" suspected of wanting to steal elements protected by intellectual property in connection with research on a vaccine, on treatments, but also on tests for the disease, which has already killed nearly 295,000 people, worldwide, including 83,200 in the United States.

"Score points on the geopolitical scene"

Clearly, it would be hackers, but also researchers and students who, according to the administration of Donald Trump, are activated to steal information from university institutes and public laboratories where they work. "States like criminals want to obtain this information to score points on the geopolitical scene or for greed," warns Meg King, of the Wilson Center think tank in Washington. "While health technology tools are more powerful and efficient than ever, which will likely be the key to ending the Covid-19 pandemic, they also provide more leeway for cyberattacks by our adversaries. " , She notes.

Republican Senator Marco Rubio called him "decision makers at all levels of the American state as well as the private sector" to do everything to "protect" this research. Chinese diplomacy had swept in advance Monday any suspicion of piracy, ensuring "fight" any kind of cyber attack. "We are at the forefront of global research into a vaccine and treatment for Covid-19 disease. It is immoral to target China with rumors and slander in the absence of evidence, " she insisted.

The United States multiplies the accusations

The United States has long criticized the Asian giant for engaging in industrial espionage and has made the defense of their intellectual property a priority in the trade war between the two great powers. But such an accusation risks further aggravating relations already very tense since the appearance of the coronavirus in late 2019 in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

Read also: Renaud Girard: "Wuhan, an international investigation is needed!"

Especially since it comes at a time when pressure on Beijing is increasing in Washington. Donald Trump has already said, so far vaguely, that he wants to charge China for what it considers to be its responsibility in the pandemic. Senators from his Republican camp, very upset with Beijing, presented a bill on Tuesday that would give the president the power to impose sanctions on China if it does not transparently help shed light on the origin of disease.

The Trump administration accuses the Chinese authorities of having delayed alerting the world to the epidemic and of concealing its magnitude. And therefore to be "responsible" for its global spread, the death of tens of thousands of people and the current unprecedented economic crisis.

Worse, the American president and his secretary of state Mike Pompeo now openly suspect Beijing of having hidden a laboratory accident in Wuhan which would have been at the origin of the pandemic. "China refuses to allow the international community to go and investigate in the laboratory of Wuhan," deplored Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the signatories to the bill. "The Chinese Communist Party must be held to account," added colleague Jim Inhofe. "His deception about the origin and spread of the virus has cost the world precious lives and time."

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2020-05-13

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