While the whole world is waiting for the vaccine, a different game has started between America, Britain, Canada and Russia. The United States, UK and Canada have alleged that Russia is stealing information about their COVID-19 vaccine research.

The three countries claim that Russian hackers supported by the government are trying to steal the research by conducting cyber attacks on medical organizations and universities engaged in research of the corona vaccine. The three countries said in a joint statement that a hacking group named APT29 (Cozy Bear) has launched a campaign to steal information related to their research. However, Russia has described these allegations as baseless.

The US, Britain and Canada allege that Cozy Bear acts at the behest of Russia’s intelligence agencies and the government. Britain’s National Cyber ​​Security Center (NCSC) director Paul Chichester said, “We condemn such cyber attacks against those who do important things to combat the Corona epidemic”. According to cyber security researchers, The APT29 hacking tool was also used last year against clients in the US, Japan, China and Africa.

Britain’s Foreign Minister Dominic Raab has said that Russia’s intelligence agencies attack institutions fighting the Corona epidemic is unfortunate and will not be accepted. Significantly, Britain and the US said in May that a network of hackers targeted national and international organizations trying to tackle Corona, but Russia was not said to be involved. Now America, Britain as well as Canada also say that Russia is stealing important information about the vaccine program through hackers.

At the same time, in a separate case, Britain has accused Russian actors of making leaked documents online viral. Britain says Russian actors conspired to spread leaked documents online as part of efforts to interfere in the 2019 election. The UK may publish a detailed report next week reflecting Russian influence in British politics.