Cyber intelligence firm Cyfirma says a Chinese government-backed hacker group has targeted the information technology (IT) systems of two Indian vaccine manufacturers in recent weeks, both of which produce the Wuhan pneumonia (novel coronavirus disease, COVID-19) vaccine used in India’s vaccination program.
Reuters reports that China and India, which are rivals, have sold or given the Wuhan pneumonia vaccine to many countries, with more than 60% of the vaccine sold in the world now being produced in India.
Cyfirma, backed by Goldman Sachs, noted that the Chinese hacker group APT10 (also known as Stone Panda) has identified vulnerabilities and weaknesses in the IT infrastructure and supply chain software of Bharat Biotech and the Serum Institute of India (SII).
Kumar Ritesh, CEO of Cyfirma, said the real motive of the Chinese Hackers was to steal intellectual property and gain a competitive advantage over Indian pharmaceutical companies. Ritesh was a senior cyber officer with the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6).
Ritesh said APT10 is actively targeting SII, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, which currently produces the AstraZeneca vaccine for many countries and will soon mass produce the Novavax vaccine.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry, SII and Bharat Biologics have not responded to this. Cyfirma said it has shared its findings with India’s Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT).
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