South Korea Thwarts North Korea's Theft Of COVID-19 Vaccine Data

Vaksin PfizerBioNTech. (Wikimedia Commons/U.S. Secretary of Defense )

JAKARTA - The South Korean Intelligence Agency (NIS) revealed that North Korea had attempted to steal the data behind Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine. You do this by hacking data belonging to Pfizer in South Korea.

"We have successfully prevented attempts to hack into facilities belonging to South Korean companies that are also developing the COVID-19 vaccine," NIS said in a statement.

Meanwhile, member of the opposition from the South Korean Parliament's intelligence panel Ha Tae-keung said the hack was carried out in order to steal information about the vaccine and treatment.

"There were attempts to steal COVID vaccines and medical technologies during cyber attacks. And Pfizer was hacked," he said.

Speaking to reporters after a briefing by the agency, Ha did not specify the timing or success of the effort. Ha's office confirmed his comments but did not provide details. Meanwhile, Pfizer's offices in Asia and South Korea have yet to comment.

Last year, North Korean hackers attempted to break into the systems of at least nine vaccine-related companies such as Johnson & Johnson, Novavax Inc and AstraZeneca.

Health experts say North Korean hackers may be more interested in selling the stolen data than using it to develop homemade vaccines.

To note, North Korea is expected to receive nearly 2 million doses of the AstraZeneca-Oxford COVID-19 vaccine in the first half of this year through the COVAX vaccine sharing program.

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There has been no confirmation of infection yet, but the NIS says an outbreak cannot be ruled out as North Korea had trade and people-to-people exchanges with China before closing the border in early 2020.