VOA慢速英语--Researchers Discovered Efforts to Steal Vaccine Data

 

Security researchers at the tech company IBM say they have found a cyber effort to collect information on the worldwide distribution of COVID-19 vaccine¹.

The researchers said the effort began in September but that they are not sure who is leading it. They suspect a "nation-state," the researchers wrote in a report issued Thursday.

The report says the targets of the hacking² are "providers of material support to meet transportation needs within the COVID-19 cold chain." These include organizations in Europe, South Korea and Taiwan that make and supply vaccine refrigerators and dry ice required for the cold chain.

The cold chain is the technology and process used to store and transport vaccines³ in temperature-controlled environments. Two promising⁴ COVID-19 vaccines, one from Pfizer-BioNTech and another from Moderna, require shipping⁵ and storage in very low temperature.

Nick Rossmann leads IBM intelligence gathering⁶ team. He said whoever is behind the operation could be trying to learn about the cold chain in order to copy it. Or, he added, they might want to damage the international vaccine effort.

IBM said people and groups with ties to COVAX, an international effort to provide COVID-19 vaccines to developing countries, received emails appearing to come from a leader of Haier Biomedical. The Chinese company is one of the world's cold-chain suppliers working with the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF and other U.N. agencies. The emails contained attachments⁷ that forced recipients⁸ to enter their personal security information in order to open the files.

Last month, Microsoft said it found several attempts from "three nation-state actors" from Russia and North Korea to steal vaccine information. "The targets include leading pharmaceutical⁹ companies and vaccine researchers in Canada, France, India, South Korea and the United States," that report read.

In July, the U.S., Britain and Canada also accused Chinese and Russian hackers¹⁰ of trying to steal Western research into coronavirus vaccines and treatments.

Tough times ahead

As the weather gets colder, the U.S. has experienced record high numbers of COVID-19 cases. On Thursday, the country reported more than 3,100 deaths, 100,000 hospitalized and 200,000 new daily infections.

Dr. Robert Redfield, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Wednesday, "The reality is December and January and February are going to be rough times. I actually believe they are going to be the most difficult time in the public health history of this nation."

Around the world, Johns Hopkins University reported nearly 65 million people infected with coronavirus including about 1.5 million deaths.

This week, Britain became the first nation to approve emergency use of COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech. The U.S. and the European Union are expected to approve that vaccine and another one from Moderna for emergency use within weeks.

Words in This Story

distribution - n. the act of delivering something to people

rough - adj. likely to cause harm or injury

1 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

2 hacking   

n.非法访问计算机系统和数据库的活动

参考例句：

• The patient with emphysema is hacking all day. 这个肺气肿病人整天不断地干咳。
• We undertook the task of hacking our way through the jungle. 我们负责在丛林中开路。

3 vaccines   

疫苗，痘苗( vaccine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His team are at the forefront of scientific research into vaccines. 他的小组处于疫苗科研的最前沿。
• The vaccines were kept cool in refrigerators. 疫苗放在冰箱中冷藏。

4 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

5 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。

6 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

7 attachments   

n.（用电子邮件发送的）附件( attachment的名词复数 )；附着；连接；附属物

参考例句：

• The vacuum cleaner has four different attachments. 吸尘器有四个不同的附件。
• It's an electric drill with a range of different attachments. 这是一个带有各种配件的电钻。

8 recipients   

adj.接受的；受领的；容纳的；愿意接受的n.收件人；接受者；受领者；接受器

参考例句：

• The recipients of the prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者的姓名登在报上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The recipients of prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者名单登在报上。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

9 pharmaceutical   

adj.药学的，药物的；药用的，药剂师的

参考例句：

• She has donated money to establish a pharmaceutical laboratory.她捐款成立了一个药剂实验室。
• We are engaged in a legal tussle with a large pharmaceutical company.我们正同一家大制药公司闹法律纠纷。

10 hackers   

n.计算机迷( hacker的名词复数 )；私自存取或篡改电脑资料者，电脑“黑客”

参考例句：

• They think of viruses that infect an organization from the outside.They envision hackers breaking into their information vaults. 他们考虑来自外部的感染公司的病毒，他们设想黑客侵入到信息宝库中。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Arranging a meeting with the hackers took weeks againoff-again email exchanges. 通过几星期电子邮件往来安排见面，他们最终同意了。 来自互联网