Supercomputers in Europe being used to research Covid-19 were hacked this week, according to several laboratories. Some of the computers remain offline following the attack.
Supercomputers in Switzerland, Germany, and the UK were affected. It’s not clear if the attacks were linked or who was behind them.
Supercomputers can assist in researching Covid-19 and other maladies by running simulations to study the disease’s effect on cells and to gain further insight on potential treatments.
Several affected labs said that only the login portal to the supercomputers were affected, not the machinery that runs the computations. That could mean that an attacker was seeking to breach the system in order to steal research or to disrupt the progress of researchers, according to an employee of one of the supercomputing sites, who requested anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly.
Supercomputers in UK, Switzerland & Germany hacked this week; some were being used for Covid research. Perpetrator not known & unclear if incidents related. https://t.co/GlfmMePY2O by @WilliamTurton
— Ryan Gallagher (@rj_gallagher) May 16, 2020