The US government has blamed the Chinese government of using its cyber actors to steal information on Coronavirus research. FBI, the premier investigation agency in the US has accused that China is stealing information on the research on Coronavirus and has been using cyber means to achieve this task.
Along with the FBI, even the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has blamed the attempts on the part of the Chinese authorities of funding the operations being handled by the hackers to stan the information on the research into Coronavirus vaccine. A joint statement from the FBI and CISA has made it clearly understood that the investigation agencies have been in the know of these attempts.
The statement suggests that
It may be noticed that the cyber-attacks have been quite common ever since the threat of Coronavirus pandemic has gripped the entire world. It is quite evident that hackers and cyber-criminals have been trying to cash in on the fear generated because of the pandemic. This includes the attempts on extracting financial information of the general public and attempts at installing malware on user devices. Security agencies around the globe have been receiving a huge number of complaints with respect to the online scams and hacking attempts. FBI alone has claimed to have received over 3500 complaints in the month of April alone. This includes stealing over $ 12 million from the Americans.
China does understand that the discovery of a vaccine against Coronavirus is the key to a huge economic growth and it is indeed making an all-out attempt at hijacking the research activities underway all around the world and make a headway in achieving a breakthrough in the discovery and manufacturing of the drug to fight the COVID 19.
The ongoing back and forth fight between the US and China on how to fix the responsibility of causing the global pandemic has its roots in the longest standing feud between Trump and China with respect to the trade secrets theft and the outsourcing issues. The Trump administration has now been blaming the Chinese authorities of spreading wrong information. The US authorities have accused the Chinese government hiding the actual information about the virus and downplaying the severity of the situation.
FBI has warned the research institutes to take precautions with respect to all the research activities and ensure of cyber safety has been taken care of. They have been asked to avoid any sort of press attention. The press leaks or any information to the press can act as a trigger for the Chinese cyber attack teams and thus may be an invitation to the further attack.
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