Microsoft has accused hackers from Russia and North Korea of attacking the developers of the coronavirus vaccine. Tom Burt, the firm's vice president of customer safety and trust, wrote about this in a blog post on the firm's website.

“In recent months, we have detected cyberattacks by three state-linked actors against seven major companies researching vaccines and treatments for COVID-19,” Burt said.

The hackers targeted pharmaceutical companies and vaccine development firms in Canada, France, India, South Korea and the United States, he said. A group called the Strontium (also known as Fancy Bear) and two North Korean groups, named Zinc and Cerium, were allegedly behind the attacks.

Burt said that most of the attacks were suppressed by means built into Microsoft products.

In late October, it was reported that the Fancy Bear group was trying to influence the US elections by attacking the Democratic Party.