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Russian Hackers Are Linked To Sweeping Bid To Steal Vaccine Data (bloomberg.com) 69

Posted by msmash from the stranger-things dept.
Russian state intelligence is hacking international research centers that are racing to develop a Covid-19 vaccine, the U.K., U.S. and Canadian governments said. From a report: It is unclear whether research facilities have been damaged or if the vaccine programs have been set back as a result of the hacks but officials warned that the cyber attacks are ongoing. In a dramatic statement on Thursday, Britain's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) said vaccine and therapeutic sectors in multiple countries have been targeted by a group known as APT29, which it said is "almost certainly" part of Russian state intelligence. Security agencies in the U.S. and Canada later issued their own statements backing up the findings. "It is completely unacceptable that the Russian intelligence services are targeting those working to combat the coronavirus pandemic," British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said. "While others pursue their selfish interests with reckless behavior, the U.K. and its allies are getting on with the hard work of finding a vaccine and protecting global health."
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Russian Hackers Are Linked To Sweeping Bid To Steal Vaccine Data More

Russian Hackers Are Linked To Sweeping Bid To Steal Vaccine Data

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  • Just give it to them (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I don't care if they don't want to reciprocate and share their data. What harm will befall us for sharing our vaccine data with them? Less global pandemic?

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Tablizer ( 95088 )

      Indeed! It's a bad project on which to rely purely on capitalism. Share what you know.

      • I am not sure its about stealing research. The oxford vaccine, in partner with astrozenica is only going to charge $10 a dose.

        No, i think this is about ensuring a vaccine is not effective and more non-russians die. They are the epitome of discord.

        • Could also be about the optics on the World stage. If Russia comes up with a safe effective vaccine first, it increases their prestige. Political currency, really.
        • There are SEVEN variants quite a bit different, in the wild, in China that nobody cared about before this one. This is just on the eighth that is trendy. While all eyes are on this one, who is working on the others? Oh, that's right, they are only poor Chinese rural. Plus another bird flu showing promise. There is no research worth stealing. The is however lots of embarrassing stuff like USA demanding priority in return for front money, and grand schemes to tie up bulk manufacturing facilities. No matter wh

          • Youre seriously implying a vaccine can make you vote a particular political party? Next youll be saying vaccines turn people gay. Its beyond rational. Russia only cares about 1 thing, stir the pot and keep the world fighting so that nobody is paying attention to the underhanded shit they do. It wont matter who is doing what as long as they succeed in that goal.

    • "But profits will be lost that way!!!!!"

      I do agree with you though that all research data anywhere on the planet on covid-19 should be shared with everyone.

      • I do agree with you though that all research data anywhere on the planet on covid-19 should be shared with everyone.

        I'm so naive I thought they were already doing that. Funny that they spin it as the Russians being selfish for trying to get the data we won't give them.

        • They are already working on one. But they would prefer they had the ONLY one that actually worked. Your death means nothing.

          • Not sure who all the "theys" are. Are you saying that it would be bad if Russia developed a vaccine?

            • If the intent is to destroy all the other research teams research so noone else gets one, yea. Otherwise i couldnt give 2 shits. The oxford vaccine already is slated to cost but $10. So its not about extortion against russia. More likely the reverse.

    • Yeah, I was thinking the same. This article describes the "attacks" as malicious and several other scary adjectives, but doesn't explain how these "attacks" have harmed any research. Just sounds like they want to develop a vaccine faster or on their own. That's only damaging if you plan to profiteer off of a global health crisis with casualties higher than most large scale wars.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by PPH ( 736903 )

      What harm will befall us for sharing our vaccine data with them?

      They fear (rightly or wrongly) that we will get a head start on vaccine manufacturing and delivery. And that we will leverage this lead into an economic advantage by emerging from quarantines earlier.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

        That would imply that this was the plan of those researching vaccines all along, and that these plans are now getting pre-empted. Because you can't "get ahead in bioresearch" that is occurring at breakneck pace beating the most optimistic prediction from just a few months ago by several times. You can merely catch up.

        My guess is that this is less about this and more about "Russia evil" hysteria in current media apparatus across anglosphere. I.e. it's a media problem and propaganda problem, not an actual res

      • Quarantine? Russia acts like nobody there has it (yes i know its BS but china pulls the same shit).

    • Nah. Russia apparently is so used to hacking and taking data that they didn't even consider asking nicely.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Khyber ( 864651 )

      Given it's Russia and given what they've been currently doing in our electoral system and government, I say don't give them shit but a lead or neutron injection.

  • If they are stealing the data to develop their own vaccine, I don't blame them. It's wrong, but I don't blame them

    If they are trying to sabotage vaccine creation, that's awful and there should be retaliation of some sort.
    • Why would stealing data to develop a vaccine be wrong? Shouldn't it be considered wrong to hoard life saving data?

      • Why would stealing data to develop a vaccine be wrong? Shouldn't it be considered wrong to hoard life saving data?

        It's just a matter of perspective. One could argue that if you paid for the research, you should be entitled to profit from its results. Your argument is why I wouldn't blame the Russians for stealing it.

        • No, you are not entitled to profits. Ever.
          You have a right to earnings. To get something of equal worth in return for your work.
          But in an emergency, none of that matters.
          Of they got the life-saving data from you, then later they would be in debt. Amd expected to repay you.
          (The statue of liberty was a nice gesture, for example. But I would suggest paying the researchers and their backers very generously and putting up a statue for them.)

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Jamu ( 852752 )
        Indeed. Dominic Raab is using double-speak. It's the (UK) companies that are pursuing their selfish interests, with the intent on restricting access to any vaccines they develop. If the UK is getting on with the hard work of finding a vaccine and protecting global health, it wouldn't be doing so in secret.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by GuB-42 ( 2483988 )

        As the saying goes, two wrongs don't make a right.
        Stealing is wrong, hoarding is wrong. But it doesn't make stealing hoarded data right.

        By stealing the data instead of working together, you run the risk of getting incomplete data, and it can have disastrous consequences. For example, the "capacitor plague" in the early 2000s, causing a high number of failures in electronic devices is said to come from a company stealing the wrong formula.

        There is also the question about how they got into the system. This ma

        • Two wrongs don't make a right when your parents are trying to get you and your brother to stop fighting. But our whole legal system in the USA is about harming people who first did harm to you. I'm not saying that's a good thing, just an example. But in the case of hoarding to the detriment of others, yes, taking their hoard away and rebalancing the distribution equally does make that wrong right.

      • Who is hoarding data? Researchers regularly publish their results. Patents are public as well.

        Reasons I can think of Russians would want to compromise these facilities include
        * Sabotage the efforts, allowing the virus the wreak additional harm on their enemies (consistent with Russia's known efforts to spread false COVID rumors) or prevent gains in international standing from being the nation to develop the cure
        * Get advanced knowledge on promising candidates, gain control of manufacturing precursors which

        • The article is pretty scant in details, but not scary adjectives, meaning, the Russians were just snooping and are potentially going to hurt these researchers profits(research paid for by the government no less).

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by tomhath ( 637240 )
        Different organizations were all developing vaccines. It makes perfect sense to have them work independently and reward the one that makes the best treatment.

    • Using the vaccine research to *further* biological weapons development would be really bad, if that's even possible. It seems to me that anything else would sort of pale in comparison.

    • If they are stealing the data to develop their own vaccine, I don't blame them. It's wrong, but I don't blame them

      It's not wrong, it will save lives and it's 100% ethical.

      • If they are stealing the data to develop their own vaccine, I don't blame them. It's wrong, but I don't blame them

        It's not wrong, it will save lives and it's 100% ethical.

        So... the ends justify the means? Did you fail *every* ethics course you took or just not take any?

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by ceoyoyo ( 59147 )

          Sometimes the ends do justify the means. Killing someone in defence of self or others, for example.

          You can certainly make an ethical argument that breaking into a computer system and copying data is justified if that action has the potential to save thousands of lives.

          "The ends justify the means" is a subject of debate and disagreement in ethics.

          • Or they could just pay for the data like civilized people.

          • Sometimes the ends do justify the means. Killing someone in defense of self or others, for example.

            That's not an example of the ends justifying the means, unless, perhaps, you provoked someone because you wanted to kill them.

            You can certainly make an ethical argument that breaking into a computer system and copying data is justified if that action has the potential to save thousands of lives.

            This would perhaps be valid if you could show that breaking into a computer system and copying the data was the *only* way to save thousand of lives. In this case, it's not. The pharmaceutical companies are going to produce and sell the resultant vaccine. Your argument is to simply rob them of their product.

            You clearly haven't thought this through.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by ceoyoyo ( 59147 )

              You seem to have an odd definition of "the means". I don't really care to guess what it is.

              I should think even you could probably figure out an ethical counter to your profit justification. If you thought it through.

        • It's ethical to hack to save lives.

          • It's ethical to hack to save lives.

            Perhaps if that's the *only* way to save lives, otherwise you're simply stealing. In this case, the Russians are apparently doing the latter.

            You need to think this through more...

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by tomhath ( 637240 )
        It is 100% wrong. They could offer to license the technology, or fund their own research. Stealing other's intellectual property is theft and you can't justify it by saying the Russians might use it better than the owner.

        • Stealing other's intellectual property is theft

          They stole nothing.

        • But why? Intellectual property rights aren't enshrined in any ethics system I know of. Intellectual property is just another way the rich build fences around their wealth and the keep the poor poor.
    • Could also be for more banal industrial espionage reasons: figure out what materials will be needed to make the vaccines, then try to get positioned in that market to make some money. My impression is that would fit pretty well within in the standard activities of these hacking organizations.
  • This is a lot better than putting bounties on our soldiers heads. Maybe they'll come up with something clever we haven't thought of.

    • Why not Brawny, or Viva - or even Kirkland Signature?

      And really, what is the point of putting paper towels on American soldiers' heads anyway? I don't get what the Russians were trying to accomplish...

      • In the UK a "Bounty" is a chocolate bar containing coconut. Delicious and sustaining.

        But awkward to have on your head, I should think.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by ghoul ( 157158 )

          Bounty is not available in the US. Its available in the Middle East. As a condition of selling it in the Middle East its not allowed to be sold in Israel. As its not sold in Israel the US doesnt allow it either. Only way to get it is from import shops like World Market. Heck even chocolates are not free from politics.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by ceoyoyo ( 59147 )

          In Canada "Bounty" is *both* a chocolate bar and paper towels. You don't want to mix those two up.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ghoul ( 157158 )

      Bounties is hardly original. The CIA put out bounties in Afghanistan for every Russian soldier killed in the 80s.

      • Stovepiping is also nothing new. Searching through the noisy data for anything which suits your agenda and selling it. By the time it gets debunked nobody will notice and you already have a new story ready.
        Nothing is left from the bounty story . The interesting part is why you dont know that. I have the links if required but it should not be required .

  • Even openly offensively.
    And to buy everything up.
    And to not share! (Which is the worst offense.)

    And you're acting surprised? They want the data! What did you fuckin expect??
    This is clearly not about destroying the labs or anything. But about finding a proper cure!
    Why would they destroy a future source of more data? They're spies! Not Trumps! ;)

    You ... and I mean certain propaganda types, not literally you the reader, ... think you can just tack on that they wanted to destroy it and kill Americans. But all t

  • If they asked for the data through proper channels and were rejected then I can understand resorting to hacking.
    If they just up and hacked first to take without asking then they are just being twats.

    Or it could just be the usual country vs country stuff they all do to get or reduce an advantage ... those places might have other juicy things to read after all.

  • A little bit of research tells me that many corporations are receiving a great deal of funding from their homeland governments and partnering openly not only with corporations and government but with individual citizens and other nations to provide the compute power necessary to predict novel compounds that can be used as a vaccine, and providing that information free of charge to partners.

    Russia has to resort to stealing the stuff because they can't manage their international relations. If Russia isn't go

  • The WHO is about sharing data to fight diseases which affect all humankind. If US is going to leave the WHO and refuse to share research data while the world is in the middle of a pandemic, hackers from other countries will set that data free. Deal with it or rejoin the WHO and share the data through proper channels

  • I say we nuke those commie bástárds!

  • likely just made up (Score:3)

    by tinkerton ( 199273 ) on Saturday July 18, 2020 @03:57AM (#60303221)

    The job of the intelligence sercices is to generate antirussia stories, to feed the mood. In a bad week this has to do it.
    Well i say made up but it's more like you browse the data trying to think of an antirussia angle. Media love it because bandwagons sell , and even more so if it is abou foreign enemies.

  • Hydroxy works as long as it's given soon after infection. Don't give it to almost dead patients and expect a miracle. That's now how this stuff works and they know it. There's other stuff that works. We don't need a vaccine for Fauci and democrats to get rich over.
    Check Fauci out sometime. Dude is 79.

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