A hacking group backed by China has been targeting the systems of Indian vaccine manufacturers Serum Institute and Bharat Biotech in recent weeks, Reuters reported on Monday, citing cyber-intelligence company Cyfirma. Vaccines made by the two firms are being used in India’s massive inoculation drive.
The firm’s Chief Executive Kumar Ritesh told the news agency that China’s real motive was “exfiltrating intellectual property and getting competitive advantage over Indian pharmaceutical companies.”
Cyfirma, which is based in Tokyo and Japan, said the hacking group, “APT10” or Stone Panda, had identified certain gaps in the vaccine makers’ supply chain software and Information Technology systems.
“In the case of Serum Institute, they [the hackers] have found a number of their public servers running weak web servers, these are vulnerable web servers,” Cyfirma’s chief executive was quoted as saying by Reuters. “They have spoken about weak web…