North Korea has tried to steal information about COVID-19 vaccines and other treatments by hacking Pfizer, a South Korean lawmaker said on Tuesday.
Ha Tae-keung said he and other lawmakers had been briefed by the South Korean intelligence agency on northern attempts to obtain coronavirus-related technology.
“There have been attempts to steal COVID vaccine and treatment technology during cyber attacks, and Pfizer has been hacked,” he said.
The intelligence agency denied that it had mentioned the pharmaceutical company by name, but Ha said it had seen documents saying, “North Korea stole Pfizer (vaccine information).”
Ha said lawmakers were forced to return documents at the end of the closed-door briefing, but added that the wording about Pfizer “was so clear that I didn’t even ask it verbally.”
Pfizer did not have an immediate comment.
The alleged hacking comes after reports last year that North Korea tried to break into the networks of at least nine health care companies, including Johnson & Johnson, Novavax Inc. and AstraZeneca.
The hermit kingdom insisted it had not reported any coronavirus infection since the beginning of the pandemic – a widely questioned claim by experts who note that it shares the border with China, the initial epicenter of the outbreak.
With Post threads