North Korea hackers ‘tried to get into systems behind UK’s Covid vaccine’

Hackers from North Korea are suspected of trying to break into the systems of the British drugmaker behind the coronavirus vaccine.

Two sources told Reuters news agency about the attempted breach of AstraZeneca’s online security.

It comes as the race for a Covid-19 vaccine has ramped up in recent weeks, with the company as one of the frontrunners to get one approved first.

The hackers reportedly posed as recruiters on networking site LinkedIn and WhatsApp to approach AstraZeneca staff with fake job offers.

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They then sent documents under the guide of job descriptions that were laced with malicious code designed to gain access to a victim’s computer.

One source said the hacking attempts targeted a ‘broad set of people’ from the company, including staff working on Covid-19 research – but the attempts are not thought to have been successful.

The North Korean mission to the United Nations in Geneva did not respond to a request for comment, but has previously denied carrying out cyberattacks.

AstraZeneca declined to comment.

The sources, who wish to remain anonymous, said the tools and techniques used in the attacks showed they were part of an a hacking campaign that US officials and cybersecurity researchers have attributed to North Korea.

The campaign has previously focused on defence companies and media organisations, but investigators say this has switched to target Covid-19 researchers in recent weeks.

Cyberattacks against health bodies, vaccine scientists and drugmakers have soared during the pandemic as the world scrambles to obtain the latest research and information about the outbreak.

It is believed the stolen information could be used to give foreign Governments an advantage, sold for profit or used to bribe or blackmail victims.

Microsoft claimed this month it had seen two North Korean hacking groups target vaccine developers in multiple countries, including by ‘sending messages with fabricated job descriptions’.

Microsoft did not name any of the targeted organisations.

South Korean lawmakers said today the country’s intelligence agency had foiled some of the hacking attempts.

It has previously been reported hackers from Iran, China and Russia have attempted to break into leading drugmakers and even the World Health Organisation this year.

Tehran, Beijing and Moscow have all denied the allegations.

One source claimed some of the accounts used in the AstraZeneca attacks were registered to Russian email addresses, in a possible attempt to mislead investigators.

North Korea has been blamed by the US for some of the world’s most audacious and damaging cyberattacks, including the hack and leak of emails from Sony Pictures in 2014, the theft of $81 million from the Central Bank of Bangladesh in 2016, and unleashing the Wannacry ransomware virus in 2017.

North Korea has described the allegations as attempts by Washington to ‘smear its image’.

The AstraZeneca and Oxford University vaccine has now officially been passed to regulators by the UK Government to assess its safety, it was reported today.

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