FBI WARNS US RESEARCHERS VS SINO CYBERATTACKS

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) have warned COVID-19 research organizations that they are in the crosshairs of Chinese hackers and saboteurs who have monitored to be trying to illicitly obtain valuable intellectual property (IP) and public health data related to vaccines, treatments, and testing from networks and personnel affiliated with COVID-19-related research.

The potential theft of this information jeopardizes the delivery of secure, effective and efficient treatment options, said FBI and CISA late on May 13, 2020 (May 14 in Manila) that they should maintain dedicated cybersecurity and insider threat practices to prevent surreptitious review or theft of COVID-19-related material.

The FBI is responsible for protecting the U.S. against foreign intelligence, espionage, and cyber operations, among other responsibilities while CISA is responsible for protecting the nation’s critical infrastructure from physical and cyber threats.

CISA and the FBI recommended the following to COVID-19 researchers: Assume that press attention affiliating your organization with COVID-19-related research will lead to increased interest and cyber activity; patch all systems for critical vulnerabilities, prioritizing timely patching for known vulnerabilities of internet-connected servers and software processing internet data; actively scan web applications for unauthorized access, modification, or anomalous activities; improve credential requirements and require multi-factor authentication, and; identify and suspend access of users exhibiting unusual activity. #coronavirusimpact #COVID19