RUSSIAN hackers are targeting British scientists developing a coronavirus vaccine, the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has claimed.
The officials said a group known as APT29 has been trying to steal medical secrets from drug companies and research groups in the UK, US and Canada.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said it was “completely unacceptable” for Russian intelligence services to target research on the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said: “While others pursue their selfish interests with reckless behaviour, the UK and its allies are getting on with the hard work of finding a vaccine and protecting global health. The UK will continue to counter those conducting such cyber attacks, and work with our allies to hold perpetrators to account.”
The Russians have denied responsibility.
Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for Vladimir Putin, said: “We do not have information about who may have hacked into pharmaceutical companies and research centres in Great Britain. We can say one thing – Russia has nothing at all to do with these attempts,” said
The APT29 group has been active for several years and is also known as Dukes or Cozy Bear.
It was linked to attacks on the US Democratic Party in the run-up to 2016 elections.
News of the hacking came just hours after the UK Government accused the Russians of interfering in last year’s General Election. Raab told MPs they believed Moscow was behind a leak of documents about a possible UK-US trade negotiation.
The papers, posted on the social media Reddit, caused a huge stir
during the campaign, with Labour saying they showed the NHS would be at risk under a post-Brexit trade deal with the US.
In a written statement, Raab said: “During the 2019 General Election a cross-government election security cell was stood up to co-ordinate responses to threats and hazards relating to the election.
“On the basis of extensive analysis, the Government has concluded that it is almost certain that Russian actors sought to interfere in the 2019 General Election through the online amplification of illicitly acquired and leaked government documents.
“Sensitive government documents relating to the UK-US Free Trade Agreement were illicitly acquired before the 2019 General Election and disseminated online via the social media platform Reddit. When these gained no traction, further attempts were made to promote the illicitly acquired material online in the run-up to the General Election.
“Whilst there is no evidence of a broad spectrum Russian campaign against the General Election, any attempt to interfere in our democratic processes is completely unacceptable. It is, and will always be, an absolute priority to protect our democracy and elections.”
The dossier was initially posted on Reddit in November, but was little noticed. It was only when Jeremy Corbyn used it to attack the Tories that they gained
media attention.
The then Labour leader said the papers were evidence that the UK Government was in advanced stages of negotiations with the US to open up the NHS to American pharmaceutical companies.
Meanwhile, Boris Johnson has been criticised for interfering in the election of the chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC). Sir Malcolm Rifkind said the Tory leader had “no role in the choice of the chairman of the committee.”
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