WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – A newly unveiled United States indictment against two Chinese hackers alleges that they targeted companies in at least ten countries, Assistant US Attorney General for National Security John Demers announced in a press conference.
The US has unveiled criminal charges against two Chinese hackers accused of targeting COVID-19 vaccine research, the Justice Department said in a statement.
The statement comes after House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said that newly proposed US legislation would sanction anyone attempting to steal data from developers of a vaccine against COVID-19.
McCarthy’s bill would “authorise the imposition of sanctions”, on hackers who attempt to steal research on a COVID-19 vaccine.
To date, more than 14.6 million people have been infected with the coronavirus worldwide, with over 609,000 fatalities, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Officials in the US and other Western nations have accused Chinese, Iranian and Russian hackers of targeting American, Canadian and UK vaccine developers.
Russia denies the charges and has reported extensive progress in efforts by the nation’s own scientists to develop a vaccine.
WHO’s COVID-19 register currently involves 24 candidate vaccines that have already launched trials on humans and another 142 that are yet at the stage of preclinical evaluation.
Sourse: sputniknews.com
