US Accuses Chinese Hackers of Stealing COVID Vaccine Research

The wisdom and morality of serious intellectual property enforcement during a pandemic are uncertain.

On July 21, the U.S. Department of Justice formally accused two Chinese hackers of stealing information regarding the research into and production of a vaccine for the COVID-19 pandemic. Why go to the trouble of stealing vaccine data? As they remain to some degree locked out of certain levels of data and technology sharing with the West, both Russia and China may be concerned that in the current geopolitical environment the United States and its allies may use a potential COVID-19 vaccine as a political weapon. Julian Barnes suggests in the New York Times that the attacks could result in damage to certain datafiles, or in additional security protocols that limit sharing of information and encumber researchers, but both of these problems could be resolved by a more open process in the first place.

This article was written by  Robert Farley

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