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China Medicine

US Warns That Chinese Hackers Are Targeting Virus Research (bloomberg.com) 162

Posted by msmash from the breaking-news dept.
Hackers working for the Chinese government are trying to steal valuable research on coronavirus vaccines and treatments from U.S. health care, pharmaceutical and research organizations, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security warned Wednesday. From a report: "China's efforts to target these sectors pose a significant threat to our nation's response to COVID-19," the Federal Bureau of Investigation and DHS's Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency said in a joint statement. The agencies said "the potential theft of this information jeopardizes the delivery of secure, effective and efficient treatment options."
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US Warns That Chinese Hackers Are Targeting Virus Research More

US Warns That Chinese Hackers Are Targeting Virus Research

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  • They shouldn't have to steal it (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Nidi62 ( 1525137 ) on Wednesday May 13, 2020 @10:29AM (#60056130)

    Shouldn't the whole world be working together to research treatments and vaccines? Seems like that would be more efficient and effective than everyone going at it alone.

    I also fail to see how China coming up with a vaccine prevents the US from doing so, unless they mean keeping the US from asking for a king's ransom to give a country access to the vaccine.

    • Shouldn't the whole world be working together to research treatments and vaccines? Seems like that would be more efficient and effective than everyone going at it alone.

      I also fail to see how China coming up with a vaccine prevents the US from doing so, unless they mean keeping the US from asking for a king's ransom to give a country access to the vaccine.

      Dang, I was just about to write what you wrote. So I'll just second this sentiment.

      • Same here. Pandemics don't take sides. It's pandemic on one side, and humanity on the other.

        How about we not engage in vicious competition and backstabbing when the lives of millions are on the line?

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Nidi62 ( 1525137 )

          How about we not engage in vicious competition and backstabbing when the lives of millions are on the line?

          Or at the very least, we can save the vicious competition and backstabbing for after those lives have been saved.

          • No, they can't, not if there's political advantage to be gained by beating us to the vaccine, even if they had to get a leg up on it from stolen research.
        • I don't think you understand the minds of politicians, Western or Eastern. Everything is a game to them.

      • Yeah me too, actually I wrote something very similar when there weren't any posts, refreshed and a bunch are suggesting pretty much the same thing.

        It's a pretty rare then when you can get almost unanimous points of view on Slashdot before anybody had a chance to read anybody else's comments. =)

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by vlad30 ( 44644 )

        I also fail to see how China coming up with a vaccine prevents the US from doing so, unless they mean keeping the US from asking for a king's ransom to give a country access to the vaccine.

        So a country who is selling medical supplies at enormous markup to the highest bidder is going to give the vaccine away for free. do not confuse ideal Socialism with the CCP

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Megol ( 3135005 )

          Buying from a reliable manufacturer in China I'd get enough of the active ingredient for a certain drug to last 40-60 years while in the land of the free the same money would be enough for about a month. Of course the enormous markup is all an evil Chinese conspiracy.

    • Re:They shouldn't have to steal it (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Patent Lover ( 779809 ) on Wednesday May 13, 2020 @10:33AM (#60056154)
      How can pharmaceutical companies make big bucks off a vaccine if they share their info? Gotta keep the cash pipeline running.

    • If China has to work with the USA on a vaccine, then how can they possibly sell their, "America is the problem, and we have the solution!", pack of lies to their citizens?

      And since they've been stealing IP from the USA for decades, why would they stop now?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Nidi62 ( 1525137 )

        If China has to work with the USA on a vaccine, then how can they possibly sell their, "America is the problem, and we have the solution!", pack of lies to their citizens?

        You mean much like the current US administration is selling their own "China is the problem, and we have the solution!" pack to its own citizens?

        • Why do people always play, "Yeah, China's evil, but TRUMP!" - and ignore the facts about the Chinese government?

          Comparing the arrogance of the Trump administration to a Chinese "administration" that is so corrupt that when it's copying (as they like to do) human body exhibits from the West, it doesn't use cadavers (it uses political dissidents) is ignorant and partisan.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Nidi62 ( 1525137 )

            Why do people always play, "Yeah, China's evil, but TRUMP!" - and ignore the facts about the Chinese government?

            My post wasn't "but Trump!". It was "and Trump!". To me they are on the same level at this point.

            • Except that the government of China is competently evil. Trump just managed to somehow stumble his way into the highest office by being the right person at the right time.

    • Shouldn't the whole world be working together to research treatments and vaccines?

      Yes, but... orange politicians.

      Trump wants to be the person who "fixed" coronavirus. Can't have the evil Chinese beating him to it, can he?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by gtall ( 79522 )

        I can see the headlines now: U.S. company discovers vaccine for SARS-CoV-2. In a related development, Trump says, "See, I AM a genius."

    • Well, there's a certain amount of dick waving going on here. The Chinese government, in particular, has taken quite a few knocks over its handling of the earliest stages of the outbreak, so it's likely they want to regain some stature by being the first country to develop a vaccine. But other countries, in particular the UK and the US, probably for similar reasons to do with their own mishandling, want to be the first to develop a virus.

      It's geopolitics, and it's a damned shame that we can't, even at a time

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by cusco ( 717999 )

        Hell, we can't even agree to a worldwide ceasefire while this is going on, China and the US both have blocked every attempt so far.

    • Re:They shouldn't have to steal it (Score:4, Insightful)

      by JeffOwl ( 2858633 ) on Wednesday May 13, 2020 @11:13AM (#60056348)
      If you assume that they are just trying to steal information, and not sabotage efforts so they can be successful first, then you have an argument. But do we know that? In any case, any attack on the network is at best a distraction for stressed out IT departments, and could mean the disruptions in service for researchers, or even loss of data.
      • and it's insane to suggest otherwise. The ruling class wants this over quick. That goes for both sides of the pond. We're not in a war, cold or otherwise and that's not going to change. War is only good for business when it's with nations that can't really fight back.

    • Shouldn't the whole world be working together to research treatments and vaccines? Seems like that would be more efficient and effective than everyone going at it alone.

      If you have a central body that determines the direction of research that direction might turn out to be a dead end and you've wasted the time of everyone. If on the other hand you have a lot of independent organizations you're more likely to explore different directions that others would have discarded from the start. AFAIK it's not like we exactly know what to do and just have to dump man hours into the solution.

      Plus, it's human nature that competition fuels progress, regardless of whether that competit

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by cusco ( 717999 )

        necessary safety protocols are going to be cut short

        Not in the US. If the Chinese researchers want to experiment on their own citizens then that's up to their society to decide. The US will still insist on testing before allowing any vaccine, no matter where it's developed.

        • Which itsself is a victory for China. It's all about public perception. If China is vaccinating their citizens while the US is still trying to test and refine production, then it makes China look like a country of scientific geniuses and America look like a dumb-ass. Whoever gets the vaccine deployed first scores a propaganda win, and one thing the Chinese leadership always craves is international respect.

        • Comment removed based on user account deletion

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by cusco ( 717999 )

            That's their society's decision, we have no voice in it nor should we. They have no voice in whether we should put a new vaccine through extensive testing or if we just accept their testing procedure as adequate and distribute it as-is, nor should they.

    • Indeed. I think the quote needs to be finished: "the potential theft of this information jeopardizes the delivery of secure, effective and efficient treatment options" "that is patented and will cost a premium regardless of the cost of manufacturing."

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by thedarb ( 181754 )

      Yep, this.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by hey! ( 33014 )

      I suppose the whole world should work together, but how do you get private industry to participate?

      You have to pay them, obviously. Either you pay them as a *contractor*, or they are competing to make a profit. If you expect them to pay themselves out of future profits, they don't get anything if someone else gets there first.

    • We can't trust them because their scientists are subject to Beijings' whims.
    • Also as stated elsewhere maybe the hurry up and finish the vaccine we started that they stole the data for then claim they 'developed' it and make China look better than the West. World Politics.

  • Squirrel!!! (Score:4, Insightful)

    by kot-begemot-uk ( 6104030 ) on Wednesday May 13, 2020 @10:32AM (#60056144) Homepage
    See a sq*irrel. Do not look what Uncle Sam is doing and that is being the only country which has blatantly and bluntly refused to share any vaccine discoveries with the world after they are achieved. Every other country has signed the WHO and UN memorandums on this. Every other one has agreed to share their toys.

    Only one hasn't - USA.

    Hence the need of a distraction. See - squirrel. Oh, you do not see it? Just look there it is. A hacker squirrel too.

    • Re: Squirrel!!! (Score:2, Flamebait)

      by reanjr ( 588767 )

      If someone doesn't profit from this pandemic, we've failed as Americans.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by Nidi62 ( 1525137 )

      See a sq*irrel. Do not look what Uncle Sam is doing and that is being the only country which has blatantly and bluntly refused to share any vaccine discoveries with the world after they are achieved.

      Don't forget they also tried to buy exclusive access to a potential vaccine from an international research company as well.

  • I get such things go on, targeting valuable data for theft.

    But theft of the information wouldnt impact the effectiveness of the research. Attacks on availability and integrity might well do.

  • This may be naive but... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by satanicat ( 239025 ) on Wednesday May 13, 2020 @10:36AM (#60056166)

    So this may be naive, but generally when I think of "hackers stealing", it's more of a "leak" than a "theft". Having another know what you're working on doesn't necessarily slow or stop progress, it just means you aren't the only one with that progress. (Assuming the attempt was to actually get the information, and not destroy or tamper with it)

    So I guess I'll ask what seems obvious to me... Why aren't countries sharing what they know with each other anyways? The article mentioned IP, I guess this really has more to do with who can profit off of it?

    • One would hope that the data would end up shared, poking in to steal it would potentially involve compromising the systems and leaving holes behind where someone else might bring the system down for giggles even if the Chinese hackers only wanted to grab the research data.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by cusco ( 717999 )

      Other countries are sharing information, only the US has allowed its researchers to refuse to do so. Pretty much every other country has signed on to the WHO memorandum to do so.

  • Oh noes! (Score:5, Informative)

    by reanjr ( 588767 ) on Wednesday May 13, 2020 @10:37AM (#60056172) Homepage

    They're gonna steal all our medicines! Americans won't have a cure and only Chinese people will survive!

    How far into the depths of idiocy do you have to go to think stealing medical research is a threat to our security? The only thing it threatens is misery profiteering.

    • And if the government was paying all the companies to do the research then you'd have an argument. But if companies can't count on recouping their costs, the private research funding starts to run out.

    • Re:Oh noes! (Score:4, Interesting)

      by physicsphairy ( 720718 ) on Wednesday May 13, 2020 @12:50PM (#60056766)

      Unfortunately you underestimate China's capacity for selfish malice.

      When they had information about the dangerous nature of the virus in Wuhan their response was to spread disinformation, buy up PPE and create export restrictions to hoard it. It would not be surprising if they were again on the lookout for how to monopolize important supplies, which would leave the rest of the world in a bad spot. Besides hoarding materials they would hardly be above things likes trying to undermine the research, the scientists, the promised vaccines with disinformation in order to reduce global demand.

      In probably the most innocuous case, they may want to take credit for promising research as part of their propaganda machine. Which you are correct is not itself a direct catastrophe to human life, but it is naive to think that propping up a murderous, oppressive regime whose corruption contributed to this being a global pandemic in the first place, is completely innocuous in effect. You can bet too if China is hot on a vaccine they will skip pesky slowdowns like animal trials.

      Basically, yes, research should be public and collaborative, but China is the bad actor who makes normal rules break down. There's a reason they are conducting these attacks and it's not a good one. At the very least, they should have to find out information when it is actually published, along with everyone else.

  • "The agencies said additional technical details on the threat will be released in the coming days."

    ... this will not be the case?

    so, to be clear, this is big news out of somebody's butt atm, right? cool!

  • Chinese hackers are targeting US IP, and if they manage to develop an effective vaccine faster than we can, then US pharma can't bleed us dry by charging out the wazoo for a product most desperately want right now.

    If China gets to a vaccine first they'll do what they always do: flood the market at a cheap price. Uncle Sam can't have that when there's money to be made!

  • This is a world-wide disaster. Any other President, any other administration would be working to lead a world-wide effort.

    THIS ignorant idiot sees it the same way that Pharma Bro did. If I was working anywhere that the research results were being hidden, by orders of the Secretary of HHS, I'd personally be dumping them for all researchers anywhere to work with.

    • ...and end up getting fired.

      Of course, you could just change your password to "Abc12345!" as mandated by the security operations people. "That's a weak password? I didn't know that..."

  • ... take Trump's 'drink bleach' tweet and run with it.

  • in light of the importance for humanity of this vaccine i believe all research and results and trials and the rest should be totally open source and that no IP should exist

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

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