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Updated April 15th, 2021 at 15:11 IST

IBM unearths 'more severe than thought' cyber attacks on COVID-19 vaccine supply chain

IBM has specified that their previous study of cyberattacks against companies responsible for manufacture and supply of COVID-19 vaccine is much more severe.

Reported by: Bhavyata Kagrana
Credit: Unsplash
Credit: Unsplash | Image:self
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Last year, global information technology giant International Business Machines (IBM) had detected illegal online activities against organizations involved in manufacturing, supplying, and storage of COVID-19 vaccine but now the cybersecurity group said that the attacks are much more severe than previously uncovered. On Wednesday, the company asserted that the attacks have been formed against more than 40 companies in 14 countries. The attacks are highly threatening with a risk of intellectual property theft and involve the possibility of disruption of partners involved in the sensitive process of COVID-19 vaccine supply. 

The blog post posted by cybersecurity's X-force mentioned the wrongdoers targeting any important factor of vaccine supply chain. 

"The expanded scope of precision targeting includes key organizations likely underpinning the transport, warehousing, storage, and ultimate distribution of vaccines. Spear-phishing attempts were associated with multiple executive activities and other roles," madded X-force blog. 

According to the findings of the company, the culprits are masked as representatives of a China-based company that is one of the largest companies in the world which carries out storage and delivery of materials at cold temperature. The security groups further explained that spam emails were sent to individuals in early September that contained mischievous attachments that would ask for a solar-powered vaccine refrigerator and other machinery, particularly to the industry.

"Deliberate and calculated threat"

The blog added that there is a possibility that these threats are consistent and formed in a pattern. It also remarked that those operating this atrocious activity have proper knowledge of the "cold chain."

"While our previous reporting featured direct targeting of supranational organizations, the energy, and IT sectors across six nations, we believe this expansion to be consistent with the established attack pattern, and the campaign remains a deliberate and calculated threat,” added the blogpost by IBM.

The security company has however not mentioned any suspected groups behind the attacks and it is not clear whether the harmful emails sent have tricked people effectively or not. The security team has got the emails and studied them as well. Earlier the company had said that this group belonged to an unspecified nation-state but no clear names are given.

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Published April 15th, 2021 at 15:11 IST

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