US investigators, experts say Chinese are hacking coronavirus vaccine research: reports

The FBI and US Department of Homeland Security are planning to release a warning about the hacking as governments race to develop a vaccine, two reports say

China’s foreign affairs ministry spokesman rejected the allegation, saying China firmly opposes all cyberattacks

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US officials allege that the hackers are linked to the Chinese government, two media reports say. Photo: AFP

Published: 11:24pm, 11 May 2020Updated: 8:51pm, 25 Nov 2020

The US government is preparing an official warning that Chinese hackers and spies have mounted an effort to steal American research aimed at developing a vaccine for Covid-19, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

The warning could be released by the FBI and US Department of Homeland Security “in the coming days”, The Times reported, adding that Chinese hackers were also after information on Covid-19 treatments and testing in addition to vaccines.

Reports of the US government being on high alert for attempts by Chinese entities to hack into coronavirus research databases follow several advances by US companies on possible solutions to help bring the pandemic under control.

02:06

The US was the first to approve a drug to treat Covid-19, albeit only for emergency use. The US Food and Drug Administration on May 1 granted authorisation for hospitals to administer Gilead Sciences’ remdesivir intravenously to patients on ventilators or requiring some form of supplemental oxygenation. The ruling came after preliminary results of a US government study showed shortened recovery times.

Moderna, which is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, received regulatory approval last week to start phase-two trials on its mRNA 1273 vaccine candidate, one of several possible Covid-19 vaccines being developed in collaboration with the US government to speed the process.

Moderna’s chief medical officer, Tal Zaks, said last week that the vaccine might be available by the end of the year for segments of the population most at risk, including the elderly, assuming that phase-two trials demonstrate efficacy and regulators move quickly to approve the vaccine for these groups.

Meanwhile, a combination of other drugs developed by US pharmaceutical companies showed promise in a study published by The Lancet on Saturday.