Several universities in the United Kingdom have been noted by the cyber authorities like the NCSC(National Cyber Security Centre) to have become a target for hackers. Other countries who are stubborn about gathering their intel on the current pandemic sponsor these hackers.
The Guardian has reported that these sponsored and heavily backed hackers have shown particular interest in the vaccinations. Although they are still in process – a devoted trial to curb the existence of the virus.
Who are their sponsors?
Authorities believe states like Iran, Russia, and China are sponsoring these hackers. And they have exhibited unwitting efforts at retrieving this classified information. In fact, it is on record that their visible interest has been constant, maybe with slight increases throughout this pandemic.
It is worthy of note that the NCSC has been looking into the case for quite some time and have declared the act deplorable and criminal in and of itself. They are working towards ensuring that the culprits face punishment.
With the emergence of the pandemic and deaths, the need for a vaccine has placed heavy tasks on scientists worldwide. Thus, a breakthrough will bring an economic turnover to the first country to announce its creation of a much-needed cure.
With the U.K. government investing approximately 49million dollars into the solution for this viral outburst. For this reason, it is easy to see why their universities are in the lead. More than a handful of universities in the U.K. have stemmed deeply into researches about the vaccine for the Coronavirus. In fact, some have even gone as far as claiming possible success – though only the University of Oxford has begun testing their solutions on human subjects. They are so confident that they have already teamed up with a certain U.K. based biopharmaceutical company. This is to begin large scale production and distribution if the vaccine is a success.
Although the distinct universities of the U.K. already seem to be on top of the global chart in regards to an effective countermeasure, these cyber attacks seem to be a threat to not just their research but their nation’s economic structure as a whole.