Indian COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers SII, Bharat Biotech, are being targeted by Chinese hackers

A Chinese state-backed hacking group has attacked two of the world's largest vaccine manufacturers SII and Bharat Biotech.

India and China are two of the largest vaccine manufacturers around the globe and have sold or gifted their vaccines to many other countries. A Chinese hacking group APT10, also known as Stone Panda has found vulnerabilities in the IT infrastructure of vaccine manufacturers.

Cybersecurity researchers have claimed that APT10 was actively targeting SII, which is making the AstraZeneca vaccine for many countries and will soon start bulk-manufacturing Novavax shots. The main agenda of hackers is to attain a competitive advantage over Indian pharmaceutical companies.

Researchers have found that the IT infrastructure of these organizations contains weak web servers and content management systems. Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) is investigating the case and hasn't released a statement yet.

Security researchers have however assured that there have been attacks on these organizations but what information was accessed by the hackers is not yet clear.

SII and Bharat Biotech are two of the leading manufacturers of the vaccine and these vaccines are going to be exported worldwide. Attacking these organizations will slow down the production rate of the vaccine and will put millions under threat.

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