Russia, China, Iran, North Korea try to steal coronavirus vaccine: Krebs

WASHINGTON – The former head of the Department of Homeland Security’s Cyber ​​and Infrastructure Security Agency said on Sunday that adversaries attempted to steal intellectual property related to the coronavirus vaccine.

“The big four, Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea, we’ve seen these four countries to some extent do some sort of espionage or espionage, trying to get intellectual property related to the vaccine, ”said Chris Krebs, former director of CISA. on CBS “Face the Nation”.

“What we had been thinking about at CISA was not just the vaccine developers, but their entire supply chain and really trying to look for those critical weak spots,” Krebs said.

“So it’s not just Moderna and some of the others who are developing the vaccine – it’s their supply chains, its distribution channels and public health institutions,” he said. “These are the people to whom we must continue to spread support for cybersecurity among the national security community and the private sector.”

IBM released a report last week that revealed a global phishing campaign targeting the Covid-19 cold chain, part of the supply chain that keeps vaccines at low temperatures during storage and transit. CISA encouraged organizations associated with Operation Warp Speed, the U.S. vaccination program, to review the IBM report for any indicators that may have been compromised.

Krebs, the former head of the CISA, was responsible for leading the effort to protect the US elections. He was sacked by President Donald Trump in a pair of tweets last month.

Trump said Krebs made a “very inaccurate” statement about the security of the 2020 presidential election.

Trump, who has yet to concede to President-elect Joe Biden, alleged the election was riddled with “massive irregularities and fraud.” Twitter tagged the president’s tweets with a warning that the election fraud allegation is disputed.

Krebs had previously said there was no evidence the elections were compromised by foreign interference.

“It’s time for the leaders of the national security community, the Republican Party to stand up, accept the results and move forward,” said Krebs, a longtime Republican.