China calls U.S. accusations of hacking in COVID-19 research “slander”
China’s foreign ministry, asked about China-linked hackers breaking into U.S. COVID-19 research, said China opposed what it called slander from the United States.
Reuters reports that the Chinese Foreign ministry’s spokesman Zhao Lijian added on Thursday that any action online to sabotage efforts against the disease should be condemned.
The FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said organizations researching COVID-19 were at risk of “targeting and network compromise” by China.
They warned that Chinese government-affiliated groups and others were attempting to obtain “valuable intellectual property and public health data related to vaccines, treatments, and testing.”
“China’s efforts to target these sectors pose a significant threat to our nation’s response to COVID-19,” they said.