CSIS Significant Cyber Incidents
CSIS entry 539 · November 2020
North Korean hackers targeted COVID-19 vaccine developer AstraZeneca by posing as recruiters and sending the company’s employees fake job offers that included malware.
CSIS entry 539
Source entries (4)
Wikipedia (English), accessed 2026-10-06
Pharmaceutical company attacks (AstraZeneca) · Late 2020
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, pharmaceutical companies became major targets for the Lazarus Group. Using spear-phishing techniques, Lazarus Group members posed as health officials and contacted pharmaceutical company employees with malicious links. It is thought that multiple major pharma organizations were targeted, but the only one that has been confirmed was the Anglo-Swedish-owned AstraZeneca.
Check Point Research
7th December - Threat Intelligence Bulletin · 2020-12-07
AstraZeneca, a British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical company and one of the most prominent COVID-19 vaccine developers, may have been breached by North Korean actors. The hackers impersonated recruiters, sending malicious files disguised as lucrative job offers. Among the victims are COVID-19 researchers.
Hackmageddon cyber attacks timelines (Paolo Passeri)
Astra Zeneca · 27/11/2020
Suspected North Korean hackers have tried to break into the systems of British drugmaker AstraZeneca in recent weeks.
Values found later for empty fields
country: United Kingdom
AstraZeneca in the United Kingdom
actors: Kimsuky
Affiliations: Kimsuky ... Masquerading as recruiters on WhatsApp and LinkedIn, the hackers used documents containing fake job descriptions