So, the Covid-19 vaccination programme has begun and the first few thousand people have already been inoculated. That’s great news for humanity, but it seems some aren’t content with fighting this virus. 

It’s been revealed that there have been numerous cyberattacks targeting the production and distribution of the vaccine, attacks which could delay the roll-out of the vaccine. The attacks could potentially cost millions of lives, and the perpetrators? Well, so far Russia, North Korea, Iran and China have all been accused of disrupting the vaccine. 

Countries are rightly furious that state-sponsored hacker groups would target critical infrastructure in the midst of a pandemic. There has been a strong exchanging of words at the United Nations, with nations like Australia noting that history will judge harshly those exploiting the virus for their own gain. 

But should it be left to history to judge, or should states be held accountable at the highest level? Just earlier this week it was revealed that the European Medicines Agency had been hacked at a time when it’s currently trying to decide whether to approve vaccines such as the one developed by Pfizer/BioNTech. Any delay to the approval of that vaccine could be catastrophic. 

It’s a sad sign of the times that we even have to write about cyberattacks that could cost lives, but it seems some people in this world really don’t care. Whether it’s spreading dangerous disinformation about vaccines or threatening to hijack shipments of said vaccines, this is the world we live in. No wonder Giant Meteor 2020 was a popular election meme, because something has seriously gone wrong with the human experiment.

This editorial originally appeared in the Data Centre Review Newsletter dated December 11, 2020. To ensure you receive these editorials direct to your inbox, subscribe to the newsletter now.