The UK security minister James Brokenshire has said Britain is “more than 95%” sure that Russian state-sponsored hackers targeted UK, US and Canadian organisations involved in developing a coronavirus vaccine.

Brokenshire said the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and its counterparts in the other countries were confident “Russian intelligence agencies” were responsible for the attacks on drug companies and research groups.

During an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Brokenshire also said he supported the Conservative chief whip’s decision to expel the new chairman of parliament’s intelligence and security committee, Julian Lewis, from the party.

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“The National Cyber Security Centre [NCSC] are 95%-plus satisfied, as are our US and Canadian counterparts,” he said. “We are very careful in terms of calling these things out, ensuring that we can have that confidence in attribution. We do believe that we have this here.

“I think the Russian government is being so hypocritical claiming to support responsible behaviour in cyberspace while secretly conducting cyber-attacks like this and others.”

The comments come after the NCSC said drug companies and research groups were being targeted by a group known as APT29, which it said was part of the Kremlin’s intelligence services.

Source: UK ‘95% sure’ Russian hackers tried to steal coronavirus vaccine research