Coronavirus vaccines may not yet be widely available, but hackers – possibly with foreign government backing – are attempting to disrupt the supply chains that will bring the drugs to the public.

Security experts are unsure what the hackers’ motives may be. They are, however, “assumed to be state agents:”

The IBM team said the “precision targeting of executives and key global organizations hold[s] the potential hallmarks of nation-state tradecraft.”

The hackers took measures to hide their tracks, and the cyber-sleuths did not name which state might be behind the campaign.

The IBM team said it was not known why the hackers were trying to penetrate the systems. It suggested that the intruders might want to steal information, glean details about technology or contracts, create confusion and distrust, or disrupt the vaccine supply chains.

The hackers probably sought “advanced insight into the purchase and movement of a vaccine that can impact life and the global economy,” the IBM team said.

Russian intelligence services were reportedly behind efforts to steal vaccine information earlier this year. North Korea, too, has been identified as actively trying to steal information from pharmaceutical companies.

There is also the very real possibility these are old-fashioned criminals looking to steal a very scare vaccine and sell it on a black market.

You can read the IBM security report here.