The defeats are a jolt to a full-strength Pakistan side in their preparations for the Twenty20 World Cup
Microsoft said it has detected attempts by state-backed Russian and North Korean hackers to steal valuable data from leading pharmaceutical companies and vaccine researchers.
It said in a blog post on Friday that most of the attacks in recent months were unsuccessful, but provided no information on how many succeeded or how serious those breaches were.
Chinese state-backed hackers have also been targeting vaccine-makers, the US government said in July while announcing criminal charges.
Microsoft said most of the targets — located in Canada, France, India, South Korea and the United States — were “directly involved in researching vaccines and treatments for Covid-19.” It did not name the targets but said most had vaccine candidates in various stages of clinical trials.
The company identified one of the state-backed hacker groups as Fancy Bear, the Russian military agents who Britain’s National Cyber Security Center said in July were behind such intrusion attempts. Two others were North Korea’s Lazarus Group and a group Microsoft calls Cerium.
Most of the break-in efforts involved attempts to steal the login credentials of people associated with the targeted organisations. The Lazarus Group posed as job recruiters while Cerium targeted spear-phishing emails that masqueraded as missives from World Health Organization representatives, Microsoft said.
The blog post coincided with an appearance by Microsoft president Brad Smith at an international forum calling on nations to protect health care facilities from cyberattacks. This year, the Paris Peace Forum is taking place online.
Optimism about a Covid-19 vaccine has grown since pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced earlier this week that preliminary data showed its vaccine to be 90 per cent effective.
At the same time, coronavirus cases are surging. In the US, deaths per day have soared more than 40 per cent over the past two weeks to an average of more than 1,100, the highest level in three months.
The defeats are a jolt to a full-strength Pakistan side in their preparations for the Twenty20 World Cup
With his famous stepfather Tommy Fleetwood on his bag, Dubai’s Oscar Craig shoots a promising first round 69
Karn Sharma and Swapnil Singh bag four key wickets to secure a 35-run victory in Hyderabad
The patient had endured years of severe pain and debilitating health complications due to the tumour
The concert is set to take place on April 27
Move aims to amplify Zambia’s renewable energy capacity
More vertiports will be set up in strategic locations across Abu Dhabi, including major business hubs and tourism destinations
Kerala will decide the fate of 194 candidates as polling on all 20 parliamentary constituencies will be held in the second phase