According to US officials, Chinese and Iranian hackers are targeting American universities and health-care firms, allegedly aiming to hinder their efforts to uncover a COVID-19 vaccine. Since early January, hackers from the countries have waged cyberattacks against institutions, aggressively attacking US public health. These acts, according to officials, may be tantamount to an act of war due to the fact that they have hampered vaccine research.
This interpretation is representative of how the US government views cyberattacks during a global economic and health crisis. The FBI and CISA are expected to issue a public service announcement with respect to China later today, claiming that Beijing is sponsoring widespread cyberattacks intended to steal vaccine research. The Trump administration has reportedly collected intelligence that supports that Iran or its proxies have been independently targeting the same facilities.
Read More: Chinese, Iranian Hacking May Be Hampering Search for Coronavirus Vaccine, Officials Say
