GCHQ begins operation against Russian disinformation on COVID-19 vaccine

GCHQ is using tools that were originally developed to tackle ISIS recruitment in its fight against disinformation

GCHQ has launched an offensive cyber-operation to counter online disinformation, allegedly originating from Russia, to cast doubts on the development of a Covid-19 vaccine.

"GCHQ has been told to take out antivaxers online and on social media," a government source told The Times.

"There are ways they have used to monitor and disrupt terrorist propaganda."

The Times report says that the operation will focus only on hostile state-linked content, and will not touch the information posted on social media by members of the public.

GCHQ also plans to block communication between malicious groups, and to encrypt the state's own data so hackers can't access it

GCHQ has been using digital tools and techniques that were originally developed to tackle online activity and recruitment material from the Islamic State, The Times said.

The UK government considers countering disinformation about a coronavirus vaccine as a high priority, as the prospect of an effective vaccine against the deadly virus gets closer. A reliable vaccine may be the world's best bet against the pandemic, which has already killed more than 1.2 million people and disrupted the lives of billions worldwide.

False information surrounding coronavirus vaccines has increased rapidly in recent months, with Russia seen as one of the main propagators. Last month, media reports disclosed that social media accounts being run from Russia were spreading fake content to suggest that a Covid-19 vaccine under development by AstraZeneca and Oxford University could turn people into monkeys.

The primary aim of such state-sponsored campaigns is promoting the Russian vaccine in other countries.

For the past several months, cyber security experts have issued repeated warnings about the threat of disinformation and fake content, especially during the pandemic.

In July, the UK, USA and Canada accused Russia of attempting attempting to hack into ongoing research on the development and testing of a coronavirus vaccine.

In an alert, the UK's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) said that Russia-backed hreat group APT29 was using 'WellMail' and 'WellMess' malware to target British labs, in efforts to "steal valuable intellectual property" on the vaccine. The US and Canada, whose labs were also targeted by hackers, backed the agency's assessment.

Earlier in March, the EU's External Action Service accused Russia-linked media of launching a major disinformation campaign to create "panic and fear" about the coronavirus outbreak in the West.

In its annual review published earlier this month, the NCSC said that it responded to over 700 cyber security incidents in 12 months to August 2020, with more than a quarter of incidents related to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The agency revealed that it had also thwarted more than 15,000 campaigns since March, which used coronavirus themes to trick people into clicking on malicious links or opening attachments containing malicious programmes.

Some hacking campaigns also involved fake stores selling personal protective equipment (PPE) kits, test kits and even coronavirus vaccines, the Centre said.