‘ACT OF WAR’

Chinese Cyberattacks May Be Hindering America’s Vaccine Hunt, Says Report

The attacks have reportedly been happening since the start of January and may have already slowed coronavirus research.

The Trump administration is accusing Chinese hackers of aggressively attacking a range of American companies and institutions that are working to find a vaccine for the novel coronavirus, The Wall Street Journal reports. U.S. officials told the newspaper the attacks have been happening since the start of January and may have already hindered vaccine research in some cases, and the aggression could be viewed by the Trump White House as “an act of war.” Separately, the Trump administration has also reportedly gather intelligence that Iran or its proxies have targeted some of the same facilities. On Wednesday, the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency are reportedly expected to accuse Beijing of sponsoring cyberattacks intended to steal U.S. vaccine research. The Journal reports that it’s unclear if the damage to some of the research caused by the cyberattacks was intentional or not, and that officials “declined to provide evidence or to detail the intelligence on which their assessments are based.”