Pierluigi Paganini
October 26, 2020
Indian COVID-19 vaccine manufacturer Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories was hit with a cyber attack that forced it to shut down its plants in Brazil, India, Russia, the U.K., and the U.S..
According to The Economic Times the company suffered a data breach.
The Indian company is the contractor for Russia’s “Sputinik V” COVID-19 vaccine, recently the Drug Control General of India (DCGI) gave it the authorization to enter Phase 2 human trials.
According to the BBC, the phone lines at the company’s UK sites in Cambridgeshire and Yorkshire were down.
In response to the security breach, the COVID-19 vaccine manufacturer has isolated all data center services.
“In the wake of a detected cyber-attack, we have isolated all data center services to take required preventive actions,” CIO Mukesh Rathi said in a media statement. “We are anticipating all services to be up within 24 hours, and we do not foresee any major impact on our operations due to this incident.”
According to the media, the attack is likely the result of a cyber espionage operation aimed at stealing info on the COVID-19 vaccine development.
At the time it is not clear whether the attack was carried out by a nation-state actor or a cyber crime gang.
In July, the British National Cyber Security Centre revealed that Russia-linked group APT29 is conducting cyberespionage campaigns targeting UK, US, and Canadian organizations working of the development of a COVID-19 vaccine.
In the same period, the US Justice Department accused two Chinese hackers of stealing trade secrets from companies worldwide and recently involved in attacks against firms developing a vaccine for the COVID-19.
In September, the El Pais newspaper reported that Chinese hackers have stolen information from Spanish laboratories working on a vaccine for COVID19.
| [adrotate banner=”9″] | [adrotate banner=”12″] |
(SecurityAffairs – hacking, COVID-19)
[adrotate banner=”5″]
[adrotate banner=”13″]
Cyber Crime / December 03, 2024
