North Korean Hackers Fail to Access COVID-19 Vaccine Manufacturers in South Korea, Intelligence Agency Says

South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS) thwarted attempts by North Korean cybercriminals to hack pharmaceutical companies developing COVID-19 vaccines.

South Korean national assembly member Ha Tae-Keung told News1 agency on Friday, November 27, that he was advised by NIS about the breach attempts on unnamed firms, which were successfully halted by the intelligence agency, according to New York Post.

North Korean hackers attempted to access South Korean drugmakers

As a member of the parliamentary intelligence committee, Ha Tae-Keung said there was no damage that resulted from hacking attempts after he was briefed by the NIS about the incident. He did not specify the names and number of targeted companies.

The NIS' closed-door briefings provide rare public access to information about North Korea while they share analysis and intelligence with counterparts from neighboring countries.

Lawmakers noted that North Korea's Kim Jong Un took these "unreasonable" actions amid the coronavirus "paranoia." Ha noted that Kim has been expressing excessive emotions, signs of stress, anger as well as "increasingly giving unreasonable orders," according to a New York Post report.

The lawmaker is referring to the North Korean leader's banning salt production and fishing due to fears that seawater being contaminated with coronavirus as well as stranding about 110,000 tons of rice from China in the Dalian port in northeastern China.

Meanwhile, North Korea has not yet confirmed any case of COVID-19, but NIS alleged that it is possible to have an outbreak in the country, which has active trade relations with China before it closed its border in January.

Microsoft discovers hacking attempt

The revelation about the breach attempts follows Microsoft's revelation earlier this month about attempts from the North Korean and Russian governments to get access majority of vaccine makers developing COVID-19 jabs.

Microsoft Corporate Vice-President of customer security and trust Tom Burt said on November 13 that most of the targeted firms are pharmaceutical companies developing coronavirus vaccine candidates in different stages of clinical trials. These hackers targeted seven research organizations and companies located in the South Korea, India, Canada, and the United States.

While Microsoft did not name the companies targeted, it said they were based in Canada, France, India, South Korea and the United States and that most of the attacks were blocked by its security protections.

The tech giant also noted that the healthcare sector is recently being targeted of cyber attackers who are trying to exploit the COVID-19 crisis. Threat actors have already successfully breached the France, Czech Republic, Spain, Germany, and Thailand while in July, the United States had also alleged China of attempting to hack pharmaceutical companies who are working on coronavirus vaccines.

Read also: World's Largest Glove Maker in Malaysia Suspends Operations in 28 Factories After Recording 2,524 COVID-19 Cases

South Korea COVID-19 timeline

After almost 11 months since the first coronavirus outbreak in China in December 2019, there are already about 61 million COVID-19 cases reported across the globe. More than 39.1 million have already recovered while over 1.43 million patients died.

South Korea already recorded a total of 32,887 coronavirus cases with 516 deaths. The country had its first case on January 20 and had a slow rate of transmission early this year. However, in mid-February when Patient 31, a 61-year-old Korean woman, became a superspreader of the virus.

Soon after, South Korea made various efforts to flatten the curve. These include fast development and approval of a diagnostic test, stringent information dissemination campaign, increased border control, and careful contact mapping through mobile apps and patient questionnaires.

All these efforts seemed to work as South Korea dropped to the lower part of the spectrum from having the second highest number of COVID-19 cases in March. The United States continues to top the list with nearly 13 million confirmed cases and more than 1.4 million deaths.

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Written by CJ Robles