{"id":7559,"date":"2020-12-03T11:25:54","date_gmt":"2020-12-03T15:25:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/?p=7559"},"modified":"2020-12-03T11:25:54","modified_gmt":"2020-12-03T15:25:54","slug":"phishing-ploy-targets-covid-19-vaccine-distribution-effort","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/2020\/12\/03\/phishing-ploy-targets-covid-19-vaccine-distribution-effort\/","title":{"rendered":"Phishing Ploy Targets COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Effort"},"content":{"rendered":"

BOSTON (AP) \u2014 IBM security researchers say they have detected a cyberespionage effort using targeted phishing emails to try to collect vital information on the World Health Organization\u2019s initiative for distributing COVID-19 vaccine to developing countries.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The researchers said they could not be sure who was behind the campaign, which began in September, or if it was successful. But the precision targeting and careful efforts to leave no tracks bore \u201cthe potential hallmarks of nation-state tradecraft,\u201d they said in\u00a0a blog post\u00a0Thursday.<\/p>\n

The campaign\u2019s targets, in countries including Germany, Italy, South Korea and Taiwan, are likely associated with the development of the\u00a0\u201ccold chain\u201d\u00a0needed to ensure coronavirus vaccines get the nonstop sterile refrigeration they need to be effective for the nearly 3 billion people who live where temperature-controlled storage is insufficient, IBM said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThink of it as the bloodline that will be supplying the most vital vaccines globally,\u201d said Claire Zaboeva, an IBM analyst involved in the detection.<\/p>\n

Whoever is behind the operation could be motivated by a desire to learn how the vaccines are best able to be shipped and stored \u2014 the entire refrigeration process \u2014 in order to copy it, said Nick Rossmann, the IBM team\u2019s global threat intelligence lead. Or they might want to be able to undermine a vaccine\u2019s legitimacy or launch a disruptive or destructive attack, he added.<\/p>\n

In the ploy, executives with groups likely associated with the initiative known as\u00a0Covax\u00a0\u2014 created by the Gavi Vaccine Alliance, the World Health Organization and other U.N. agencies \u2014 were sent spoofed emails appearing to come from an executive of Haier Biomedical, a Chinese company considered the world\u2019s main cold-chain supplier, the analyst said.<\/p>\n

The phishing emails had malicious attachments that prompted recipients to enter credentials that could have been used to harvest sensitive information about partners vital to the vaccine-delivery platform.<\/p>\n

Targets included the European Commission\u2019s Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union and companies that make solar panels for powering portable vaccine refrigerators. Other targets were petrochemical companies, likely because they produce dry ice, which is used in the cold chain, Zaboeva said.<\/p>\n

The EU agency has been busy revising new import and export regimes for coronavirus vaccines and would be a gold mine for hackers seeking stepping stones into partnering organizations, she said.<\/p>\n

Covax has struggled to raise enough money to compete for vaccine contracts against the world\u2019s wealthiest nations in the race to secure doses as fast as they can be produced. But the UN and Gavi have invested millions in cold-chain equipment across Africa and Asia. The investment, in the works well before the pandemic, was accelerated to prepare for an eventual global rollout of coronavirus vaccines.<\/p>\n

Whoever was behind the phishing operation likely sought \u201cadvanced insight into the purchase and movement of a vaccine that can impact life and the global economy,\u201d the blog post said. Coronavirus vaccines will be one of the world\u2019s most sought-after products as they are distributed, so theft may also be a danger.<\/p>\n

Last month,\u00a0Microsoft said\u00a0it had detected mostly unsuccessful attempts by state-backed Russian and North Korean hackers to steal data from leading pharmaceutical companies and vaccine researchers. It gave no information on how many succeeded or how serious those breaches were. Chinese state-backed hackers have also targeted vaccine makers, the U.S. government said in\u00a0announcing criminal charges in July.<\/p>\n

Microsoft said most of the targets \u2014 located in Canada, France, India, South Korea and the United States \u2014 were researching vaccines and COVID-19 treatments. It did not name the targets.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday,\u00a0Britain became the first to country\u00a0to authorize a rigorously tested COVID-19 vaccine, the one developed by American drugmaker Pfizer and Germany\u2019s BioNTech.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BOSTON (AP) \u2014 IBM security researchers say they have detected a cyberespionage effort using targeted phishing emails to try to collect vital information on the World Health Organization\u2019s initiative for distributing COVID-19 vaccine to developing […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7561,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[45],"tags":[180],"class_list":{"0":"post-7559","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-language"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/gsgah.jpeg?fit=460%2C345&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/gsgah.jpeg?fit=460%2C345&ssl=1",460,345,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/gsgah.jpeg",460,345,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/gsgah.jpeg",460,345,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/gsgah.jpeg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/gsgah.jpeg?fit=300%2C225&ssl=1",300,225,true],"large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/gsgah.jpeg?fit=460%2C345&ssl=1",460,345,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/gsgah.jpeg?fit=460%2C345&ssl=1",460,345,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/gsgah.jpeg?fit=460%2C345&ssl=1",460,345,true],"mh-magazine-slider":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/gsgah.jpeg?resize=460%2C345&ssl=1",460,345,true],"mh-magazine-content":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/gsgah.jpeg?resize=460%2C345&ssl=1",460,345,true],"mh-magazine-large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/gsgah.jpeg?resize=460%2C345&ssl=1",460,345,true],"mh-magazine-medium":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/gsgah.jpeg?resize=326%2C245&ssl=1",326,245,true],"mh-magazine-small":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/gsgah.jpeg?resize=80%2C60&ssl=1",80,60,true]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"adminrfm","author_link":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/author\/adminrfm\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"Health<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"BOSTON (AP) \u2014 IBM security researchers say they have detected a cyberespionage effort using targeted phishing emails to try to collect vital information on the World Health Organization\u2019s initiative for distributing COVID-19 vaccine to developing [...]","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7559"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7559\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7562,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7559\/revisions\/7562"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}