US, UK issue advisory against Covid-19 related hacking attempts by state-backed hackers

The United Kingdom’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and the United States’ Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) have issued a joint advisory against government-backed hackers attacking healthcare and research institutions during Covid-19.

“CISA and NCSC continue to see indications that advanced persistent threat (APT) groups are exploiting the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic as part of their cyber operations,” the agencies said in a statement.

The US and UK cybersecurity agencies have seen a surge in large-scale ‘password spraying’ campaigns against healthcare bodies and medical research organizations by ‘advanced persistent threat’ (APT) groups.