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U.S. Officials: Beware Of China And Others Trying To Steal COVID-19 Research
As researchers around the globe race to develop a coronavirus vaccine, U.S. authorities are warning American firms to exercise extreme caution in safeguarding their research against China and others with a track record of stealing cutting-edge medical technology.
"We are imploring all those research facilities and hospitals and pharmaceutical companies that are doing really great research to do everything in their power to protect it," Bill Evanina, the director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, said in an interview with NPR.
"We don't want that company or the research hospital to be the one a year from now, two years from now, identified as having it all stolen before they finished it," said Evanina, whose center falls under the director of national intelligence.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Britain's National Cyber Security Center recently issued a statement saying hackers are "actively targeting organisations ... that include healthcare bodies, pharmaceutical companies, academia, medical research organisations, and local government."
The statement did not name China or any other country. Reuters reported that hackers linked to Iran tried to break into email accounts at the U.S. drugmaker Gilead Sciences, which has a potentially promising drug to treat the COVID-19 virus. Iran denied the report.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by srobert on Wednesday May 13 2020, @01:44PM (2 children)
If there was ever a time for an open source approach to a problem, this is it. There should be no "intellectual property" involved in research for a cure, treatment, or vaccine for COVID-19. If you're working for one of these companies, in any country, and you've got some information of what to do to treat it, that info wants to be free!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 13 2020, @02:30PM (1 child)
Let's see you be so generous with YOUR million dollar ideas, hm?
Sure - scientists work for decades to solve problems. The second something works, someone in a suit comes in and takes it. Could be commercial interests or The People's Republic. Makes no difference to the scientists - *your* cool idea now belongs to invisible magic of capitalism or the heroic effort of the nation. Salute to the boss.
(Score: 2) by srobert on Wednesday May 13 2020, @04:46PM
Yes, that's what they do. But they have an incentive not to if we get them to wise up. Those guys in the suits and their families can be killed by this virus as long as the virus can find a way to survive and mutate. If we make treatment unaffordable, the virus and its descendants will spread throughout the human population and eventually come back to the suits. The most profitable choice for the suits is the same as for everyone else, Eradicate the Disease.