North Korea targets Pfizer in vaccine hack

South Korean intelligence says the attack was probably meant to raise money for its poorer northern neighbour

North Korea has made another attempt to steal information on the coronavirus vaccine from Pfizer Inc., South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS) has said.

"There were attempts to steal COVID vaccine and treatment technology during cyber attacks and Pfizer was hacked," said Ha Tae-keung, an opposition member of the parliamentary intelligence panel, as quoted by Yonhap.

Although the NIS did not say when the alleged hack took place, or whether it was successful, it is at least the second North Korean effort to steal vaccine data.

Microsoft said it detected breach attempts by North Korean hackers against at least nine health organisations in November last year, including Novavax, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson.

Cash-strapped North Korea is thought to be using its state resources to steal and subsequently sell vaccine information, rather than using it to develop its own home-grown version.

Although the country has not yet confirmed any cases of coronavirus, North Korea is due to receive around 2 million doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine this year through the COVAX vaccine-sharing programme.

Attacks against healthcare organisations have spiked over the last 12 months, with Russia also being accused of launching strikes against pharmaceutical companies.

Last summer, the UK, USA and Canada all accused Russia of attempting to hack organisations developing a working coronavirus vaccine. The National Cybersecurity Centre specifically pointed to APT29, a hacking group that has been tied to Russian intelligence services.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the attacks, at a time when organisations around the world were working to develop a vaccine, "completely unacceptable".

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov rejected the accusations as "groundless" adding, "Russia has nothing at all to do with these attempts."