Hackers target WHO as coronavirus cyberattacks soar twofold

WHO’s chief information security officer said the identity of the hackers was unclear, but the effort was unsuccessful

The UN body published an alert last month warning that hackers are posing as the agency to steal money from the public

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World Health Organisation (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Photo: AFP

Published: 8:07am, 24 Mar 2020Updated: 10:08pm, 24 Mar 2020

Elite hackers tried to break into the World Health Organisation (WHO) earlier this month, part of what a senior agency official said was a more than twofold increase in cyberattacks.

WHO Chief Information Security Officer Flavio Aggio said the identity of the hackers was unclear, but the effort was unsuccessful. He warned that hacking attempts against the agency and its partners have soared as they battle to contain the coronavirus, which has killed more than 15,000 worldwide.

The attempted break-in at the WHO was first flagged to Reuters by Alexander Urbelis, a cybersecurity expert and lawyer with the New York-based Blackstone Law Group, which tracks suspicious internet domain registration activity.

Urbelis said he picked up on the activity around March 13, when a group of hackers he’d been following activated a malicious site mimicking the WHO’s internal email system.

“I realised quite quickly that this was a live attack on the World Health Organisation in the midst of a pandemic,” he said.

Urbelis said he did not know who was responsible, but two other sources briefed on the matter said they suspected an advanced group of hackers known as DarkHotel, which has been conducting cyber-espionage operations since at least 2007.