Unknown hackers are targeting the Covid-19 cold chain

[midian182]

In brief: Hackers are targeting organizations that ensure coronavirus vaccines are safely transported and stored in temperature-controlled environments, a process known as the Covid-19 cold chain. The attacks consist of a phishing campaign that has spanned six countries, and while the group responsible has not been identified, previous similar incidents have been linked to the Chinese, Russian, Iranian, and North Korean governments.

The revelation comes from the IBM Security X-Force team, which writes that while firm attribution could not be established for the campaign, it bears all the "potential hallmarks of nation-state tradecraft."

The spear-phishing emails are disguised using the name of a business executive from Haier Biomedical, a Chinese company part of the UN's official Cold Chain Equipment Optimization Platform (CCEOP) program.

The emails were sent to "executives in sales, procurement, information technology and finance positions, likely involved in company efforts to support a vaccine cold chain." They appear to request quotations for the CCEOP program but actually contain malicious HTML attachments that victims need to download and open locally.

The method removes the requirement of setting up an online phishing page that could be identified and erased by security researchers. Once the recipients enter their credentials, attackers can potentially access companies' internal networks, allowing them to learn the process, methods, and plans for distributing a Covid-19 vaccine.

“As governments are preparing to roll out vaccines, criminal organizations are planning to infiltrate or disrupt supply chains.”Jürgen Stock, INTERPOL Secretary General

Yesterday saw the UK become the first country in the world to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, which has to be kept at a temperature of about -70C (-94F). AstraZeneca's vaccine, meanwhile, requires a less demanding 36 degrees to 46 degrees Fahrenheit.

As reported by ZDNet, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency have released a security alert about the phishing campaign, while Interpol has warned of an organized crime threat to Covid-19 vaccines.

Image credit: ungvar

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/87831-unknown-hackers-targeting-covid-19-cold-chain.html

 

[Vulcanproject]

A nation state wanting disruption of vaccine cold chains. Curious.

If the virus was a natural phenomena but possibly with an intentional release then we have seen how it has weakened the economies of the West more than it has China for example. I'm not one for creating and spreading wild conspiracy theories but if you wanted to weaken the West then a virus such as this would be effective. Sow discord and confusion, pile on the disinformation.

Perhaps the whole thing has just been coincidental and we have been primed for a new worldwide pandemic. Even so, someone clearly wasn't too happy how quickly western laboratories stepped up to the challenge and produced vaccines so quickly to combat it. If nothing else it shows they believe the vaccine is effective and can make a huge difference in this battle.

There is still technological superiority there and these vaccines proof that if there is an end goal and laser focus allies can come together and solve problems quickly.

 

[kimo1]

A nation state wanting disruption of vaccine cold chains. Curious.

If the virus was a natural phenomena but possibly with an intentional release then we have seen how it has weakened the economies of the West more than it has China for example. I'm not one for creating and spreading wild conspiracy theories but if you wanted to weaken the West then a virus such as this would be effective. Sow discord and confusion, pile on the disinformation.

Perhaps the whole thing has just been coincidental and we have been primed for a new worldwide pandemic. Even so, someone clearly wasn't too happy how quickly western laboratories stepped up to the challenge and produced vaccines so quickly to combat it. If nothing else it shows they believe the vaccine is effective and can make a huge difference in this battle.

There is still technological superiority there and these vaccines proof that if there is an end goal and laser focus allies can come together and solve problems quickly.

Or maybe it really is like in the movie Mission Impossible 2, but without the immortal superhero stopping the corrupted Big Pharma?
On the internet one can write all sorts of stories. But each will believe in what keeps most happy. Nobody wants to admit being a failure.
One for... himself and all for... themselves. Humans are untrustworthy animals: they will devise all sorts of tricks for profit. Forcing ignorance on their victims makes them very successful. And there's no stopping of this evil. Irl there are no immortal super heroes to stop the big villains.

 

[Reallyhow]

Probably some accelerationist bullshit.

Though I'm rarely an advocate for harsh measures, we should probably track these people down and give em the guillotine.

Beyond that? Could *****s spouting conspiracy theories knock it off already? The area I live in is HIGHLY at risk because of *****s insulated from real life with ThE vIrUs IsN't real, "THE MASK IS A MUZZLE!", and "It's just a ploy by China!!!" **** when in reality they're just too stupid and spoiled to do the slightest possible things to preserve human life.

 

[Reallyhow]

Also, "We have seen how it has weakened the economies of the West more than it has China for example."

This is due to complete and utter regulatory incompetence at every possible level.

Should the leaders have been intelligent enough to just shut things down at first, we would be done by now.

 

[gamerk2]

Also, "We have seen how it has weakened the economies of the West more than it has China for example."

This is due to complete and utter regulatory incompetence at every possible level.

Should the leaders have been intelligent enough to just shut things down at first, we would be done by now.

^^^THIS

Predictable though; there's less electoral impact of stretching out pain for over a year, rather then shutting everything down for a month and being done with it. [See: Australia]

EDIT

This also highlights why certain decisions should be in the hands of the Federal government, not the states. As it is, the effectiveness of protectionist measures are determined by the state with the lowest amount of protections, which is making the situation worse across the board. This is *exactly* the type of thing where the Federal government should set national safety standards, states rights be danmed.

 

[gamerk2]

Probably some accelerationist bullshit.

Though I'm rarely an advocate for harsh measures, we should probably track these people down and give em the guillotine.

Beyond that? Could *****s spouting conspiracy theories knock it off already? The area I live in is HIGHLY at risk because of *****s insulated from real life with ThE vIrUs IsN't real, "THE MASK IS A MUZZLE!", and "It's just a ploy by China!!!" **** when in reality they're just too stupid and spoiled to do the slightest possible things to preserve human life.

My opinion? Anyone who interferes with vaccine distribution should be tried for voluntary manslaughter/attempted murder.

Also, anyone who doesn't wear a mask should automatically be last in line for any COVID related medical treatments.

 

[wiyosaya]

Slime comes in all shapes and sizes.

 

[Karlos95]

^^^THIS

Predictable though; there's less electoral impact of stretching out pain for over a year, rather then shutting everything down for a month and being done with it. [See: Australia]

EDIT

This also highlights why certain decisions should be in the hands of the Federal government, not the states. As it is, the effectiveness of protectionist measures are determined by the state with the lowest amount of protections, which is making the situation worse across the board. This is *exactly* the type of thing where the Federal government should set national safety standards, states rights be danmed.

If Australia had been placed in the hands of the Federal level we would have been screwed. It was all politics here. Labor shut everything down and Liberal's wanted everything open as quick as people (the party for big business and corruption) and Liberal's are the ones in charge at Federal level.

I do believe some of our lockdowns were a bit over kill but because we had lockdowns, we can now go travel interstate and not be subjected to harsh penalties. But like I said, it was all politics, the better party of the two (still a crap party) thought it was necessary to lock it down tight (partially right) and the other (that is for big business and worrying about their own pockets being lined) wanted things to open for their donor buddies. Any way, it is almost back to normal here and we have contact tracing so if there is another breakout the people in the same area as the person infected can be notified asap and go into quarantine.

 

[Endymio]

Should the leaders have been intelligent enough to just shut things down at first, we would be done by now.

Done? How so? The nations who shut down early are now in their second or even third wave of lockdowns. Mankind has never eradicated a highly infectious respiratory virus before. Covid certainly will be no different. Even a vaccine won't be a panacea; it'll simply reduce Covid to the level of a background illness, similar to the common flu. Five years from now, and fifty years from now, people will still be contracting Covid.

Also, the top five nations in the world by per-capita Covid deaths are Belgium, Spain, Italy, Peru, and the U.K. Four of the five instituted rapid shutdowns early in the crisis. They still lead the world in deaths, and are either reinstituting or considering new rounds of lockdowns, as infection rates rose immediately after the first lockdowns ended.

 

[Karlos95]

Done? How so? The nations who shut down early are now in their second or even third wave of lockdowns. Mankind has never eradicated a highly infectious respiratory virus before. Covid certainly will be no different. Even a vaccine won't be a panacea; it'll simply reduce Covid to the level of a background illness, similar to the common flu. Five years from now, and fifty years from now, people will still be contracting Covid.

Also, the top five nations in the world by per-capita Covid deaths are Belgium, Spain, Italy, Peru, and the U.K. Four of the five instituted rapid shutdowns early in the crisis. They still lead the world in deaths, and are either reinstituting or considering new rounds of lockdowns, as infection rates rose immediately after the first lockdowns ended.

Government can't help their people are morons.

Tell that to Australia. We have 1 state in a partial lockdown, the rest of the country is open for business and if there is someone infected we have contact tracing.

Yeah we are fortunate to be an island but we still had millions coming in the early days and still have been able to restrict the outcome.

In fact, if our NSW premier wasn't a complete corrupt tool and shut it down like other states in the early days we would have next to no cases.

 

[Endymio]

Tell that to Australia. We have 1 state in a partial lockdown, the rest of the country is open for business...Yeah we are fortunate to be an island

Island status is part of it. Another is that community spread had not yet occurred in Australia before China stopped denying that Covid spread human-to-human (Italy and the US were much less lucky in this regard.

But the third factor is, for communicable diseases, most important of all:

"Australia has an average population density of 3.3 persons per square kilometre of total land area, which makes it one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world.... "

 

[pcnthuziast]

The covid narrative is a lie. NWO psyop.

 

[Karlos95]

Island status is part of it. Another is that community spread had not yet occurred in Australia before China stopped denying that Covid spread human-to-human (Italy and the US were much less lucky in this regard.

But the third factor is, for communicable diseases, most important of all:

"Australia has an average population density of 3.3 persons per square kilometre of total land area, which makes it one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world.... "

And yet the same thing would have worked, but your governments wanted to play chicken with it and worry about the economy over lives.

There was still community spread covid in Aus, just we weren't dumb and stayed locked down. It is as simple as that.

Now, that may be a fact if you were looking at all of Australia, except a majority are on the coast and in cities, meaning we are actually closer than that "fact"

"Demographia cited Melbourne as geographically Australia’s largest urban area, at 2,453 km2 and is known to be the 32nd largest city in the world. According to Demographia’s list, out of the 1,040 cities surveyed, Melbourne’s population density of an estimated 1,500 people/ km2"

"Sydney as 43rd in terms of urban footprint size (2,037 km2). Whilst it recognises that Sydney is Australia’s most populous city at approximately 1,900 people/ km2, like Melbourne"

Never cherry pick data. Always look at it all otherwise it will be biased to what you are trying to prove.

 

[Karlos95]

The covid narrative is a lie. NWO psyop.

Depends on what you are trying to say.

The virus is real, no doubt about that, you have to be pretty naive to think otherwise.

However, the agenda on top of that could be anything, multiple agenda's I think for each Government. Main one being CCP trying to stuff up other economies. WHO probably trying to make a global super power government, individual governments trying to take more control and freedoms from the people, introduce digital currencies so we cannot sneeze without being traced.

 

[Endymio]

your governments wanted to play chicken with it and worry about the economy over lives.

A) The economy is lives. When the economy suffers, suicide rises, murders and violent crime rise, people lose their businesses, their homes, their life savings. Lives don't exist in a vacuum.

B) Once Covid is gone, all the other infectious diseases will still be here, killing people every year. Over the next several years, those disease will kill far more people than Covid did. Do you favor staying locked down forever? Why are the lives of those people less important than the lives of those lost to Covid?

What of the millions who die every year from auto accidents -- each and every one preventable? Far more than those due to Covid. We could easily save every one of those lives, at the stroke of a pen.

When you finally understand why we allow those millions of deaths, and continue to allow them year after year, you'll be on the road to understanding the problem with draconian lockdown schemes.

There was still community spread covid in Aus...

Read what I said. Your first cases of community spread did not occur until March. That was after China came clean about Covid.

Demographia cited Melbourne as geographically Australia’s largest urban area, with [a] population density of an estimated 1,500 people/ km2"

That's one TENTH of New York City's. And there are areas in NJ twice as dense as NYC proper. The United States has over 100 cities with densities higher than Melbourne.

Care to try again?

 

[Karlos95]

A) The economy is lives. When the economy suffers, suicide rises, murders and violent crime rise, people lose their businesses, their homes, their life savings. Lives don't exist in a vacuum.

B) Once Covid is gone, all the other infectious diseases will still be here, killing people every year. Over the next several years, those disease will kill far more people than Covid did. Do you favor staying locked down forever? Why are the lives of those people less important than the lives of those lost to Covid?

What of the millions who die every year from auto accidents -- each and every one preventable? Far more than those due to Covid. We could easily save every one of those lives, at the stroke of a pen.

When you finally understand why we allow those millions of deaths, and continue to allow them year after year, you'll be on the road to understanding the problem with draconian lockdown schemes.

Read what I said. Your first cases of community spread did not occur until March. That was after China came clean about Covid.

That's one TENTH of New York City's. And there are areas in NJ twice as dense as NYC proper. The United States has over 100 cities with densities higher than Melbourne.

Care to try again?

A lot of things can be changed with a stroke of a pen. Probably 95% of politician's in the world are corrupt so nothing will change while they still make money from their backwards laws and regulations.

And still that is going off land which is a poor measurement. May as well count trees and say it is more dense with less trees. The reason being a city is just a line drawn on a map but that 1 city may not be occupied all the way around (New York probably the exception) where as other cities will have bush land and other parts where no one will be living. The fact is you can pretty much go anywhere in USA and live. In Australia you could draw a line around the coast and that is where we all live, hardly anyone lives in land. Our largest inland city has a population of 25k. Almost 0.1% of our population.

Not saying we have more in one area than one area in USA. But you were trying to say we are so spread out it would have been a miracle to have community transmission which is false. We aren't spread out at all.
Still the fact is, we are getting on with business with no more covid crap interfering while your leaders are running around like headless chooks not knowing what to do about anything.

 

[terzaerian]

A) The economy is lives. When the economy suffers, suicide rises, murders and violent crime rise, people lose their businesses, their homes, their life savings. Lives don't exist in a vacuum.

B) Once Covid is gone, all the other infectious diseases will still be here, killing people every year. Over the next several years, those disease will kill far more people than Covid did. Do you favor staying locked down forever? Why are the lives of those people less important than the lives of those lost to Covid?

What of the millions who die every year from auto accidents -- each and every one preventable? Far more than those due to Covid. We could easily save every one of those lives, at the stroke of a pen.

When you finally understand why we allow those millions of deaths, and continue to allow them year after year, you'll be on the road to understanding the problem with draconian lockdown schemes.

100% agree on this. And not just lockdown schemes - masks are complete bollocks too. I don't know anyone that's died or even had COVID outside of myself, but my own mom got a bacterial infection in her lungs from a mask.

And you know what's going to kill a hell of a lot more people than COVID? The antibiotic resistant superbugs that we're probably cooking up in millions of facemasks from people that get that infection and subsequently don't follow proper procedure when it comes to their antibiotics.

 

[Adorerai]

We lost all credibility of enforcing a “shutdown” here in the US very early in the pandemic when politicians started choosing what demographics had to abide by the rules.

 

[Karlos95]

We lost all credibility of enforcing a “shutdown” here in the US very early in the pandemic when politicians started choosing what demographics had to abide by the rules.

It's the same battle everywhere it looked.

The poor weren't allowed to move while the rich were free to do as they please. Then within that battle the racists were involved.

 

[gamerk2]

A) The economy is lives. When the economy suffers, suicide rises, murders and violent crime rise, people lose their businesses, their homes, their life savings. Lives don't exist in a vacuum.

Lives is the economy. Dead or incapacitated people don't produce economic output.

And that's why the government should be heavily subsidizing (and I'd argue outright replacing) lost wages due to said lockdowns.

Instead, you have on-again off-again lockdowns as conditions worsen, and a general across the board loss of economic activity as some percent of the population simply doesn't go out and purchase anything. Hence why certain industries are in a state of collapse.

Simply put: It's actually cheaper to do a major lockdown and solve the overwhelming majority of the problem then to drag moderate losses out for a year plus.

Sweden is a perfect example of this: They tried to stay open to keep the economy going, and ended up with both higher infections and more economic losses then their neighbors (Norway, Finland, Denmark). Now they're forced into a lockdown since infection rates have gotten so high. Same trend repeats across the world: Areas that locked down earlier, over the long haul, suffered LESS economic loss.

It's not hard to understand once you realize the fear of the virus causes just as much economic loss as the virus itself.

B) Once Covid is gone, all the other infectious diseases will still be here, killing people every year. Over the next several years, those disease will kill far more people than Covid did. Do you favor staying locked down forever? Why are the lives of those people less important than the lives of those lost to Covid?

False equivalency.

Other infectious diseases either:

A: Are far harder to contract
B: Significantly lower death rate
C: Have seasonal vaccines (flu)

By contrast, COVID has a very high spread rate with an unacceptably high (~3.5%) death rate.

That being said, I'd very much prefer it if masks became a thing during the winter months (flu, etc.) in order to lower current infection rates.

What of the millions who die every year from auto accidents -- each and every one preventable? Far more than those due to Covid. We could easily save every one of those lives, at the stroke of a pen.

When you finally understand why we allow those millions of deaths, and continue to allow them year after year, you'll be on the road to understanding the problem with draconian lockdown schemes.

False equivalency, again.

The auto industry is *very* heavily regulated, with requirements for both minimal vehicle safety standards and personal responsibility to pass both a competency exam and maintain their vehicles. People who avoid those responsibilities or use said vehicles in a dangerous manner are punished according to the law.

If we had similar requirements for managing COVID, we'd have mandatory masks in public spaces, and criminal charges for anyone in a public setting while infected. Both of which we currently don't have (though hopefully will soon).

Read what I said. Your first cases of community spread did not occur until March. That was after China came clean about Covid.

I'm fairly certain COVID started much earlier then anyone admits, but no one knew what it was yet so it was misdiagnosed.

How do I know this? Because one of my co-workers is a Chinese national who lives near the Wuhan providence. She went home during early October, coming back by the end of the month. Shortly after, her, and by extension most of her direct co-workers caught some odd respiratory disease that doctors couldn't ID; most of them were out about two weeks, two seriously.

Regardless, with fast-spreading diseases you can't screw around. Airports should have been shut down indefinitely by March at the absolute latest [it's a sin they're still operating] in order to contain the spread.

That's one TENTH of New York City's. And there are areas in NJ twice as dense as NYC proper. The United States has over 100 cities with densities higher than Melbourne.

And yet, less dense areas (*cough*thedakotas*cough*) somehow have significantly worse infection rates. And there aren't many spots that are as dense at the NY Metro Area; you really can't use it as a comparison except for cases where the spread is *worse*. If NYC can contain it, there's no excuse for anyone else.

Care to try again?

Done.

 

[gamerk2]

100% agree on this. And not just lockdown schemes - masks are complete bollocks too. I don't know anyone that's died or even had COVID outside of myself, but my own mom got a bacterial infection in her lungs from a mask.

So I'm guessing she had a non-disposable mask that wasn't cleaned properly. Yeah, wearing a dirty mask will do that.

Regardless, yet another false equivalency argument from you. Your argument is this:

"There's a chance you could get sick from wearing a mask, so masks aren't effective"

Which is a fairly obviously an incorrect argument.

And you know what's going to kill a hell of a lot more people than COVID? The antibiotic resistant superbugs that we're probably cooking up in millions of facemasks from people that get that infection and subsequently don't follow proper procedure when it comes to their antibiotics.

Antibiotic resistance is absolutely a growing problem, but it isn't going to be made worse by mask use.

 

[terzaerian]

So I'm guessing she had a non-disposable mask that wasn't cleaned properly. Yeah, wearing a dirty mask will do that.

Regardless, yet another false equivalency argument from you. Your argument is this:

"There's a chance you could get sick from wearing a mask, so masks aren't effective"

Which is a fairly obviously an incorrect argument.



Antibiotic resistance is absolutely a growing problem, but it isn't going to be made worse by mask use.

I'm saying that masks are in the process of creating what is obviously, to anyone not wearing blinders, a much larger and more dangerous problem.

Their effectiveness is neither here nor there, but if you aren't wearing at least an N95 you're just participating in security theater.

I get the feeling when that problem becomes manifest people like you are going to pretend like you knew all along it was going to happen, too.

 

[Shadownovascotia]

I'm saying that masks are in the process of creating what is obviously, to anyone not wearing blinders, a much larger and more dangerous problem.

Their effectiveness is neither here nor there, but if you aren't wearing at least an N95 you're just participating in security theater.

I get the feeling when that problem becomes manifest people like you are going to pretend like you knew all along it was going to happen, too.

What kind of sheep do you have to be to believe that wearing a mask is a problem?

Cough with a cloth mask on and cough with a cloth mask off. The mask obviously helps with reducing particles coming out of your mouth into the air as well as reducing the distance said particles travel. It really is not hard to understand. A 10 year old could replicate this in an experiment quite easily.

These same masks are used in clean rooms and hospitals the world over. To pretend it is for no reason is disingenuous and ignorant at best and dangerous and plain stupid at worst.[/QUOTE]

 

[Endymio]

Areas that locked down earlier, over the long haul, suffered LESS economic loss.

Italy was the second nation in the world to lock down due to Covid. It's still in the top five nations for Covid-19 deaths, and is currently implementing its third wave of lockdowns and quarantine restrictions. Economic conditions are so bad in Italy right now that more Italians are fleeing to Australia than since WWII.

By contrast, COVID has a very high spread rate with an unacceptably high (~3.5%) death rate.

Utter nonsense. IHME's current estimate places it at 0.6%, and dropping. Other medical estimates have put the current rate (with recent improvements in care and treatment) as low as 0.2%, on par with the flu.

As for the rate of spread, many other disease have an R-nought much higher than Covid's value of 2.2. Rubella (which kills infants at a far higher rate than Covid) is 5-7, and even Ebola -- one of the most fatal diseases known -- has an R-nought of 1.9.

...once you realize the fear of the virus causes just as much economic loss as the virus itself.

Now you're making sense. Media hyperbole is a huge part of the the problem. I've spoken to countless people terrified not for themselves, but for their young children. Despite many of them consuming a near-continual diet of media stories about Covid, they've never been told their children have far less to fear from this than they do from the common flu.