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The FBI investigating hacking of Covid research by “PRC-affiliated cyber actors”

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Re: The FBI investigating hacking of Covid research by “PRC-affiliated cyber actors”

#91

Post by [deleted] »

orbifold wrote: post #75
RobertoG wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

we are in all out conflict with China because some super computing sites were "attacked"? That's not a very responsible statement.

Well this is clearly a hostile act during a time in which several European countries have declared medical emergencies. They were not just "attacked" but have been completely offline for almost two weeks now ( https://www.hpcwire.com/2020/05/18/hacking-streak-forces-eur... ). In Germany it is (incident was 15.05) - NEMO (Freiburg) - bwUniCluster 2.0 and ForHLR II (Karlsruhe) - Hawk (Stuttgart) - Leibniz Supercomputin…

[deleted]

Re: The FBI investigating hacking of Covid research by “PRC-affiliated cyber actors”

#92

Post by acqq »

goodcjw2 wrote: post #83
orbifold wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well this is clearly a hostile act during a time in which several European countries have declared medical emergencies. They were not just "attacked" but have been completely offline for almost two weeks now ( https://www.hpcwire.com/2020/05/18/hacking-streak-forces-eur... ). In Germany it is (incident was 15.05) - NEMO (Freiburg) - bwUniCluster 2.0 and ForHLR II (Karlsruhe) - Hawk (Stuttgart) - Leibniz Supercomputin…

Facts: 1 - HPC centers in Europes are down. 2 - Those are useful resources to battle battle against COVID-19. 3 - HPC centers are down due to malware infections. 4 - FBI warned and Department of Homeland Security warns of possible cyberattacks targeting COVID-19 research.

And in the linked article the probable cause is much more prosaic:

"The attacks may have been perpetrated in order to mine cryptocurrency; investigations are ongoing."

Re: The FBI investigating hacking of Covid research by “PRC-affiliated cyber actors”

#93

Post by [deleted] »

vkou wrote: post #81
raverbashing wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh poor China... They just want to do whatever they want without anyone messing with them and publicizing it. Maybe because as opposed to Chinese and other oppressive governments, the western press actually makes the people informed. Sometimes.

"Trust me, I have evidence for a theory that is politically convenient for my boss, but I won't tell you what it is" is not keeping people informed. It's propaganda that pushes an agenda. That agenda may even be correct, but an outside observer who can't verify any of the evidence can't tell.

[deleted]

Re: The FBI investigating hacking of Covid research by “PRC-affiliated cyber actors”

#94

Post by Reelin »

orbifold wrote: post #75
RobertoG wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

we are in all out conflict with China because some super computing sites were "attacked"? That's not a very responsible statement.

Well this is clearly a hostile act during a time in which several European countries have declared medical emergencies. They were not just "attacked" but have been completely offline for almost two weeks now ( https://www.hpcwire.com/2020/05/18/hacking-streak-forces-eur... ). In Germany it is (incident was 15.05) - NEMO (Freiburg) - bwUniCluster 2.0 and ForHLR II (Karlsruhe) - Hawk (Stuttgart) - Leibniz Supercomputin…

> this is clearly a hostile act

That's not my reading of the article you linked. A bad actor compromised the credentials of multiple researchers with access to various supercomputers (over some unknown or at least unspecified period of time). They then simultaneously accessed the compromised machines and installed cryptocurrency mining software on them.

This could easily be profit motivated (as it appears). It could also be (as you suggest) a hostile act disguised as the former, but I don't see what the motivation to do that would be?

Re: The FBI investigating hacking of Covid research by “PRC-affiliated cyber actors”

#95

Post by akiselev »

vsareto wrote: post #53
smkellat wrote: post #39

If you’re doing research of any significance in today’s world and don’t have an active security program looking for harmful actions by foreign intelligence your organization opens itself up for all sorts of nasty liabilities. You don’t even have to have an electronic intrusion. The PRC’s government also pays people off as the case of this former Cleveland Clinic researcher shows: https://www.cleveland.com/crime/2020/…

What kind of liabilities? That looks like a case against an individual. Are you talking human counter-intelligence as well as IT security?

Imagine a state actor hitting the contract research organization in charge of the last phase of a clinical trial for a blood pressure medication and changing data. Due to the nature of double blind trials, catching these modifications can become really hard to catch and could lead to a lot of human suffering.

Re: The FBI investigating hacking of Covid research by “PRC-affiliated cyber actors”

#96

Post by dheera »

Given today's anti-free-thinker HN climate I'm probably going to get downvoted to oblivion for saying this, but I feel I need to say it.

I don't think COVID-19 research should be secretive, I think it should be a global effort, and I'm perfectly happy with the idea of any nation having open access to all COVID-19 research, vaccines, results, and (anonymized) data. There should NOT be a concept of intellectual property when there are people dying in droves from a disease. Please, China, Italy, Spain, everywhere, scoop up all the COVID-19 research you can find and act upon it to save lives. Copy ideas. Copy drugs. Re-do and verify tests. Immediately. Don't mind the courts. They suck, and are sitting in armchairs killing people by delaying the effort and enforcing intellectual "property".

Re: The FBI investigating hacking of Covid research by “PRC-affiliated cyber actors”

#97

Post by zaxu »

orbifold wrote: post #37

Just for additional context several super computing sites in Europe were attacked a few weeks ago and are still down, among them PizDaint at CSCS, which ranks 6th in the world, several super computing sites in Germany (FZ Juelich) and so on. I think no-one wishes this to turn into a kinetic war, but for all we know besides the economic warfare that has been going on for quite some time, this feels like we are in an a…

These are crypto mining schemes, though. This looks a lot more like run of the mill money making cybercrime than espionage - I don't think any nation state would be interested in outing themselves for a pittance in bitcoin.

Re: The FBI investigating hacking of Covid research by “PRC-affiliated cyber actors”

#98

Post by orbifold »

goodcjw2 wrote: post #83
orbifold wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well this is clearly a hostile act during a time in which several European countries have declared medical emergencies. They were not just "attacked" but have been completely offline for almost two weeks now ( https://www.hpcwire.com/2020/05/18/hacking-streak-forces-eur... ). In Germany it is (incident was 15.05) - NEMO (Freiburg) - bwUniCluster 2.0 and ForHLR II (Karlsruhe) - Hawk (Stuttgart) - Leibniz Supercomputin…

Facts: 1 - HPC centers in Europes are down. 2 - Those are useful resources to battle battle against COVID-19. 3 - HPC centers are down due to malware infections. 4 - FBI warned and Department of Homeland Security warns of possible cyberattacks targeting COVID-19 research.

Facts:

1 - one of the two incidences reported (#EGI2020512) targeted academic data centers "for unknown purposes" (https://csirt.egi.eu/academic-data-centers-abused-for-crypto...) and not necessarily crypto currency mining.

2 - IP addresses associated with that second attack were all assigned to a Chinese University (Shanghai Jiaotong University), CSTNET and one Polish host known to be compromised by someone from China.

Re: The FBI investigating hacking of Covid research by “PRC-affiliated cyber actors”

#99

Post by [deleted] »

smkellat wrote: post #39

If you’re doing research of any significance in today’s world and don’t have an active security program looking for harmful actions by foreign intelligence your organization opens itself up for all sorts of nasty liabilities. You don’t even have to have an electronic intrusion. The PRC’s government also pays people off as the case of this former Cleveland Clinic researcher shows: https://www.cleveland.com/crime/2020/…

[deleted]
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