Vaccine anti-Covid-19 : what we know about the hackers accused of stealing research

The government agency british in charge of cyber-security, claims to be "almost certain" that these hackers operate for the information Russian. The Kremlin denies.

After the suspicions of interference by the russians in the political campaigns... attacks by Russian hackers to steal research on a vaccine against the Covid-19 ? An accusation by the United Kingdom on Thursday, strongly denied by the Kremlin. But what strengthen the tensions between the two countries, in a context where plane the shadow of suspicion of interference in the campaigns of legislative british last December and a referendum in 2016 that led to the Brexit. What is known exactly in this case ? The Express makes the point.

A group of hackers identified... and well-known

The government agency british in charge of cyber-security, claims to be "almost certain" that these hackers operate for the information Russian. "The threat group, known under the name of APT29" or "Dukes" or "Cozy Bear", "operates almost certainly be in the framework of the intelligence services of the Russian," said in a statement the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), adding that its american counterparts and the canadians had arrived at the same conclusion.

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According to the New York Times, the "Cozy Bear" is one of the groups of piracy the most effective associated with the Russian government. The american newspaper notes that it is involved in the hacking of the network for the democratic national Committee in 2016. "APT29 has a long history of targeting governmental, diplomatic, think-tanks, health care and energy to get information. Therefore, we encourage everyone to take this threat seriously," said Anne Neuberger, director of the cyber security of the national security Agency (NSA) of the United States, cited by the New York Times.

Several organizations targeted by these attacks

"This malicious campaign of APT29 affects mainly targets government, diplomatic, think-tanks, stakeholders from the health and energy to steal their valuable intellectual property," explains the NCSC. The british foreign minister Dominic Raab has deemed it "totally unacceptable that the intelligence services of the Russian target those who are working in the fight against the pandemic of sars coronavirus".

"While some are running recklessly after their selfish interests, the United Kingdom and its allies continue their hard work to find a vaccine and protect the health of the world", " he protested, adding that "the Uk will continue to fight against those who carry out cyber-attacks", and which must sooner or later "accountable".

the Use of spear-phisphing and malware

A question : how can the person suspected can-ellles obtain these critical data in the midst of a crisis of health ? According to the director of operations of the NCSC Paul Chichester, the group of hackers "use various tools and techniques, including the spear-phisphing and custom malware known under the names of 'WellMess' and 'WellMail'.

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The NCSC has made public its conclusions to the sides of advice to affected organizations to better protect themselves against these cyber-attacks. "We condemn these attacks despicable against those who carry out vital work to combat the pandemic of novel coronavirus", added his director.

The Kremlin denies the charges

on the side Of the russians, all these accusations of hacking are rejected. The Kremlin has in effect denied soon after, this Thursday, at once all interference in the elections of 2019, and any attempt of theft of current research on a vaccine against the new coronavirus, after accusations that the british in this sense.

"We have no information on who was able to hack pharmaceutical companies or research centres in Great Britain. (...) We reject these accusations as the new baseless allegations about interference in the elections in 2019", said Dmitry Peskov, the spokesman of the Russian presidency, quoted by the State news agency Tass.

A new case of interference

The british government has also stated on Thursday that he was "almost certain" that "Russian actors" had tried to disrupt the legislative elections of 12 December last circulating during the campaign documents on a possible trade agreement between London and Washington after the Brexit. An investigation was then launched to try to identify the source of the leak of these documents, which were published on the social network Reddit.

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The Uk is also expected in the next few days the publication of a report critical of other possible interference russians, including on the campaign of the reféreferendum in 2016 which has led to the Brexit. The relations between London and Moscow are at their lowest since the poisoning on british soil of the former Russian agent Sergei Skripal. Russia had denied any involvement, but the case had resulted in a wave of evictions cross of diplomats between London and its allies, and Moscow. The two countries had resumed in February 2019 the dialogue broke up 11 months earlier.

Date Of Update: 16 July 2020, 17:58