Tag Archive for: vaccines

Apex mother encourages vaccines among young adults after losing her 20-year-old son to COVID :: WRAL.com

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By Joe Fisher, WRAL reporter

Apex, N.C. — Tyler Gilreath, a 20-year-old student at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, battled coronavirus for three weeks in August. He was starting to recover and moved into a new apartment.

But soon after feeling better, he developed a sinus infection that became so severe he had to be hospitalized.

“You never know how COVID-19 is going to affect you individually,” said his mother, Tamara Demello, from Apex. “It seems like it finds your weakest point and attacks that.”

The infection cut off blood flow to his brain, and just after five days in the hospital, Gilreath’s family had to take him off life support.

“It gets really serious really fast and it can just as easily kill you,” she said.

Now, Demello is trying to make sure no one else has to go through the same pain as she has. Her story has been featured in a national commercial from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

“If this can happen to my son, who was athletic and never sick and totally healthy with no pre-existing issues, this can happen to anybody,” Demello said.

Gilreath wanted to get married and be a dad. He was attending UNCW for computer science in hopes of working in cyber security and pursuing his interest in music.

Demello said she understands that “young men can be pretty stubborn when doing what their moms tell them to.” Her son thought that he was invincible, and that the virus wouldn’t affect him, so he didn’t get vaccinated against COVID-19.

“We need to be armed and prepared as much as we can,” she said. “This is a battle.”

Tyler Gilreath, 20

Data from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services show just 55% of people ages 18 to 24 are vaccinated. . That’s only 6% more than were vaccinated six months ago.

As of Friday, only 38% of all North Carolina children ages 5 to 17 are vaccinated against the coronavirus with at least one dose.

“The statistics are very low for young people to die from this, but the parent who loses the child doesn’t care about the statistics,” Demello said.

Demello said that her life will never be the same after losing her son.

“It’s…

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McAfee sees surge in mobile malware targeting COVID-19 vaccines | 2021-07-01

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McAfee sees surge in mobile malware targeting COVID-19 vaccines | 2021-07-01 | Security Magazine




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A Year of Lockdown Sees a Surge in Mobile Malware Targeting Banking, Billing and COVID-19 Vaccines

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SAN JOSE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Today, McAfee’s Advanced Threats Research team released its Mobile Threat Report 2021, which found hackers are using fake apps, Trojans and fraudulent messages to target consumers. Last year, McAfee revealed that hidden apps were the most active mobile threat facing consumers. But following a year of lockdowns and a surge in time spent online and on devices, fraudsters are capitalising on this with more approaches. With most of the world still anxious about COVID-19 and demand for vaccines high, McAfee’s research sheds light on how hackers are targeting these fears with bogus apps, text messages, and social media invitations.

“The pandemic changed the way consumers live, meaning hackers have adapted to switch up the various methods they use to target consumers. With more people connected online than ever before, we want to make sure we are doing everything possible to help refocus consumer’s digital mindsets to protect what matters to them and their friends and family – their personal data,” Judith Bitterli, Senior Vice President, Consumer Business Group at McAfee. “Mobile threats remain prevalent in our world and as fraudsters use more advanced methods, this will only continue. We aim to support consumers in safeguarding their personal devices and more importantly, personal data.”

Over the past year, the vaccine rollout has advanced at different rates across the globe, providing plenty of opportunities for hackers. McAfee Advanced Threat researchers found that hackers are hiding malware and malicious links inside fakes vaccination appointments and registration display ads. These have the potential to download malware onto a person’s device that displays unwanted ads, as well as activating accessibility features to give the hacker full device control, with the goal of stealing banking details and credentials. According to the research, some of these campaigns worryingly started as early as November last year, before any vaccines had officially been approved, while others continue to appear as countries roll out their vaccination programmes in the fight against COVID-19.

“We’ve seen how the pandemic not only led…

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Hackers try to penetrate the vital ‘cold chain’ for coronavirus vaccines, security team reports

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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 the intruders might either want to steal information, glean details about technology or contracts, create confusion and distrust, or to disrupt the vaccine supply chains themselves.

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

As there was “no clear path to a cash-out,” as there is a ransomware attack, it increased the likelihood of a state actor, though the IBM sleuths cautioned it was still possible that criminals could be looking for ways to illegally obtain “a hot black-market commodity,” such as an initially scarce vaccine.

The new generation of RNA vaccines, such as the Pfizer product approved for emergency use by Britain on Wednesday, require sub-Antarctic temperatures for storage and transport. But even more traditional vaccines, such as the candidate being tested by Oxford University and its partner AstraZeneca, must be kept refrigerated.

The hackers targeted organizations linked to Gavi, a public-private vaccine alliance that seeks to supply vaccines to poor countries. The alliance works closely with the World Health Organization, donor countries, the global pharmaceutical industry and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The cybersecurity agency encouraged all organizations in involved in the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed to be especially alert to challenges to their cold chain systems.

In a blog post, which was distributed to cybersecurity agencies, IBM said an intruder impersonated a business executive at Haier Biomedical, a legitimate Chinese company active in vaccine supply chain, which specializes in refrigeration of medical products. The impersonator sent emails to “executives in sales, procurement, information technology and finance positions, likely involved in company efforts to support a vaccine cold chain.”

It’s unclear if any of the phishing attempts were successful.

In her post, Claire Zaboeva,…

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