IBM X-Force has warned of hackers targeting organisms linked to the COVID-19 vaccine storage chain in a major spear-phishing campaign launched in September 2020.
Organizations responsible for storing and delivering Covid-19 vaccines at the right temperature have become a target for hackers. Vaccines against the coronavirus must be stored, until administered to humans, at extremely low temperatures. To be safe they should be kept at minus 70 degrees Celsius for what she did Pfizer and minus 20 Celsius for the one developed by Moderna. That is why these organizations are also referred to as cold chain organizations.
In an IBM X-Force report, published today, analyst Claire Zaboeva said: “Phear-phishing emails were sent to select executives in sales, procurement, information technology and finance positions, as well as across its entire organization. logisticsof the chain of new vaccines”
This e-fishing campaign has focused on attacks on global organizations based around the world, ranging from Germany, Italy, South Korea and the Czech Republic to wider Europe and Taiwan.
The ultimate goal of the hackers seems to be the collection credentials, which will later be used for further compromises and gathering information about the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines.
Η DHS-CISA also issued a warning, in coordination with report of IBM X-Force, warning organizations involved in the storage and transport of COVID-19 vaccines to mind their defenses.
In their phishing emails, the attackers impersonate a business executive from Haier Biomedical, a Chinese company known as "the world's only complete cold chain organization" and a specialist supplier for the platform program optimization(CCEOP) of the Vaccine Alliance.
No wonder these supply chains are being targeted by hackers. With the whole world dealing with the coronavirus the hackers have smelled money. Last month, the large cold storage organization Americold was hit by a cyber attack and forced to shut down its computer systems.
Although Americold has not been publicly confirmed as an organization involved in the COVID-19 refrigeration supply chain, Air Cargo World's news website he mentioned that Chicago Rockford Airport wants to partner with Americold to store COVID-19 vaccines before distribution.
