The U.S. Justice Department on Tuesday accused two Chinese hackers of stealing hundreds of millions of dollars of trade secrets from companies around the world and more recently targeting firms developing a vaccine for the coronavirus. Two Chinese Hackers Working with the Ministry of State Security Charged with Global Computer Intrusion Campaign Targeting Intellectual Property and Confidential Business Information, Including COVID-19 Research https://t.co/qFWk5BA8Zb pic.twitter.com/pUiaStKbqn —@TheJusticeDeptThe charges are believed to be the first accusing foreign hackers of targeting scientific innovation related to the coronavirus, though U.S. and Western intelligence agencies have warned for months about those efforts. Last week, for instance, authorities in the U.S., Canada and the U.K. accused a hacking group with links to Russian intelligence with trying to target research on the disease. There was no immediate indication from the indictment that the hackers had successfully obtained any COVID-19 research, despite efforts to snoop on the companies. The case was filed earlier this month in federal court in Washington state and was unsealed on Tuesday.

Source: CBC News July 21, 2020 17:03 UTC