North Korea Accused Of Pfizer Vaccine Hack

South Korean intelligence officials have said that a recent attack on pharmaceutical company Pfizer, targeting information on coronavirus vaccines, was executed by North Korea in an attempt to steal Covid vaccine data. 

The intelligence service briefed lawmakers during a closed-door session. “There were attempts to steal Covid vaccine and treatment technology during cyber attacks and Pfizer was hacked,” said a South Korean National Assembly member, speaking to Reuters.

North Korea has reported no cases of Covid-19, although its borders remain closed in a national quarantine effort and, given the nature of the North Korean regime, it is highly improbable that Covid-19 is not present there. If South Korea’s intelligence is accurate, the attack on Pfizer is the latest in a number of attacks by N.Korea against organisations involved in the research and development of Covid-19 vaccines.  

If South Korea’s intelligence is accurate, the attack on Pfizer is the latest in a number of attacks by North Korea against organisations involved in the research and development of Covid-19 vaccines. 

The attacks, which took place several months ago, appear to involve the use of spoofed logon pages for various online portals, which trick staffers at the target organisations into handing over their passwords.  “Nation state hacking is nothing new, and is something North Korea has a history of. In the past few years alone, North Korea has been held responsible for a number of cyber attacks causing disruption and financial losses on an unprecedented scale. ...No other country in recent history has resorted to printing fake US dollars. No other country deploys ransomware to blackmail bitcoins from their victims. No other country hacks international banking networks in order to steal money. In that line of thinking, it wouldn’t be surprising for them to try to hack vaccine data either.” commented F-Secure chief research officer Mikko Hypponen. 

This isn't the first time North Korea has been accused of hacking systems around the world to obtain vaccine data. In November 2020 Microsoft said, "two actors originating from North Korea that we call Zinc and Cerium" that it alleged were "targeting seven prominent companies directly involved in researching vaccines and treatments for COVID-19." Many security observers believe that the motivation might be to sell vaccine data on the black market as well as to in develop its own vaccine. 

Digital espionage targeting health bodies, vaccine scientists and drug makers has surged during the COVID-19 pandemic as state-backed hacking groups scramble to secure the latest research and information about the outbreak.

Last year suspected North Korean hackers tried to break into at least nine health organisations, including Johnson & Johnson, Novavax Inc, and AstraZeneca. South Korea's intelligence agency said it had foiled North Korean attempts to hack into South Korean companies developing coronavirus vaccines. The attack, similar to the attacks believed to be of Russian origin late last year, are also believed to be by state-backed actors.

Recently the US Department of Justice (DoJ) has charged three North Korean computer programmers with hacking offences related to a number of high profile data breaches, including a high profile attack on Sony Pictures in 2014. The men have been accused of attempting to steal more than $1.3 billion in money and crypto currency from a number of businesses around the world.

Reuters:   ITPro:   Healthcare IT News:   Telegraph:      Al Jazeera:   BBC:   Computer Weekly:     Image: Unsplash

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