EU-UKRAINE Lab Network Hacked: 900k Ukrainian Citizen's Health Numbers Released [SYNEVO/MEDICOVER]
Swedish-located lab network storing Covid-19 genetic testing data across Europe, Ukraine, & US compromised, Ukraine bears the brunt.
This is 16 years of caring for the health of Ukrainians. These are 350+ branches close to home in 150+ settlements throughout Ukraine. These are 98 powerful modern laboratories, 8 of which are in Ukraine: in Kyiv, Lvov, Chernivtsi, Vinnitsa, Odessa, Kharkov, Kherson and Dnieper.
Thanks to a wide network of laboratories in Europe, Synevo has international contracts with manufacturers of the best equipment and reagents, which allows the company to use the latest generation equipment and, accordingly, offer modern and affordable laboratory diagnostics
-”YNNIAN” : “God” -Status BreachForums User
On BreachForums, user Ynnian posted nearly 900,000 PII records of Ukrainian citizens, implying access to an internal database with health numbers that can potentially be tied to other breached or accessible health records. Sweden-centered Synevo Laboroties, now under Medicover Diagnostic Services, has laboratories inside the nations of many geopolitically relevant Russian adversaries such as Poland, Romania, and Georgia. The amount and nature of testing done ties directly into the genetic biowarfare technologies currently being studied by DARPA, holding major adversarial advantage. Technology such as pathogen detection, genetic extinction and genetic surveillance will be dissected at the end of this article.
In Ukraine, Synevo has established multiple laboratories across different cities and regions. These laboratories typically provide their most extensive array of medical tests and services. Their own site data shows a massive decline in Covid testing in 2023, implying the impact Covid-19 Diagnostics holds for company revenue.
Medicover’s Diagnostic Services offers more than 3,000 parameters ranging from routine blood tests to highly advanced diagnostics, covering all major clinical pathology areas:
Allergy and autoimmune diagnostics
Bacteriology
Parasitology
Biochemistry and immunochemistry
Blood groups diagnostics / transfusion medicine
Tumor markers
Clinical chemistry
Cytology
Hematology
Histopathology
Human genetics
Hygiene
Immunology and immunochemistry
Infectious diseases
Microbiology
Molecular biology
PK & PD
Pharmacology / toxicolog
y
Its largest labs are located in:
Kharkiv
Dnipro (formerly Dnipropetrovsk)
Odesa (Odessa)
Zaporizhzhia
Vinnytsia
Ivano-Frankivsk
Chernivtsi
Mykolaiv
Kiev
Lviv
Although this breach mainly exposes Ukrainians, likely a geopolitically motivated attack, its implied access means whoever breached these systems can access databases with health numbers, to be tied to corresponding genetic records inside the health network. Considering Synevo is involved in genetic research, hostile actors have much to gain in order to keep up with their adversaries.
A recent partnership with FYR Diagnostics spreads Medicover diagnostic data into North America. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many healthcare companies, including Synevo and Medicover, played a role in conducting diagnostic testing, providing healthcare services, and “supporting public health initiatives”.
Synevo’s involvement included:
COVID-19 Testing: These companies were involved in offering COVID-19 diagnostic tests, including PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests, antigen tests, and antibody tests. They facilitated widespread testing to identify and diagnose COVID-19 cases, contributing to efforts to control the spread of the virus.
Testing Infrastructure: Synevo and Medicover likely established testing infrastructure, including setting up dedicated COVID-19 testing centers or utilizing their existing laboratory networks
Supporting Healthcare Systems: Synevo collaborated with healthcare authorities, governments, and healthcare providers to support COVID-19 response efforts by providing testing, medical expertise, and resources.
Research and Development: These companies have been involved in research and development efforts aimed at developing and validating new COVID-19 testing methods or improving the efficiency and accuracy of existing tests.
The specific countries where Synevo and Medicover conducted COVID-19 testing would likely include the regions labs are operational including various European nations such as Poland, Romania, Germany, Ukraine, Hungary, and the US. The nature of the research Synevo conducts is extensive, and very useful for research purposes. Synevo also declares prominent support for the Ukrainian military - a hazardous cause in that part of the world these days.
THE DARPA FACTOR
Since 2011, DARPA has been focused on "multidisciplinary research proposals in the area of genomic and proteomic technologies that can continuously and persistently record specific natural or human promulgated environmental, physical and genomic events within the genetic or epigenetic systems of microorganisms." Basically, surveillance on the gene level. Since then, the DoD put out a call to researchers to develop devices that detect pathogenic threats by performing up to 1,000 diagnostic tests in fewer than 15 minutes. This sort of research is exactly what happens at Synevo.
“Not only does Darpa want to create recording "tags," they also want these tags to remain immutable and somehow resist microbe evolution. The way they plan to do this is "possibly a complex mathematical approach."
They also want the technology to provide secure access to a select few hands -- a sort of encrypted password system for genes. Darpa prides itself on far-out research. But password-protected genes? That's beyond the bleeding edge.”
IEEESPECTRUM: The U.S. Department of Defense has put out a call to researchers to develop devices that detect pathogenic threats by performing up to 1,000 diagnostic tests in fewer than 15 minutes.
The devices ideally would determine the presence of a pathogen, and useful details about it, such as whether it’s a drug resistant variety, the severity of the infection, and any co-infections.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, which makes investments in breakthrough technologies on the military’s behalf, will oversee the initiative.
Scientists have endeavored to make this sort of diagnose-anything, “Star Trek”-inspired device previously, without a lot of success. But DARPA is betting that new technology that leverages gene-editing techniques can achieve this goal.
If the project budget is approved by the White House, DARPA will be able to award more than US $60 million to proposers.
According to DARPA Program Director Renee Wegrzyn, when decision-makers from the Department of Defense (DOD) go into the field during a disease outbreak, there’s a very short amount of time available to decide what to do next—what countermeasures to use, which protective equipment to supply, or how many doctors to deploy. For example, a team may have six seats in a helicopter and 100 ill individuals, and they need a way to quickly determine who is in the greatest need of evacuation and urgent care. [They] need a device that provides very high-quality, high-trust information about the outbreak in less than 15 minutes.
DARPA is also investing $100m in genetic extinction technologies that could wipe out malarial mosquitoes, invasive rodents or other species, emails released under freedom of information rules show.
The documents suggest that the US’s secretive Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) has become the world’s largest funder of “gene drive” research. The use of genetic extinction technologies in bioweapons is strong nightmare fuel but known research is focused entirely on pest control and eradication.
If you are a hacker, your moral compass is likely skewed according to self-constructed models of navigating the world. You might act towards your own ends, that of your cause, the cause of your nation or religion, while considering the fallout of your action. Depending on your level of sociopathy or fanatacism (of which there is plenty in the infosec space), you may or may not consider your victims. Many skilled black-hat actors consider critical infrastructure & communications “Article 5” equivalent, and others put health data in the same category. It would be in the interest of nation-states to classify more cyber-attacks of this nature as an act of war due its ramifications.
Genetic research presents a myriad of ethical considerations due to its potential to influence various aspects of society, medicine, and human life. Some key ethical considerations in genetic research include:
Informed Consent
Privacy and Confidentiality
Stigmatization and Discrimination
Equity and Access
Ownership and Control of Data
Genetic Engineering and Enhancement
Genetic Discrimination
Research Integrity and Misuse
Addressing these ethical challenges requires collaboration among scientists, policymakers, ethicists, and the public to establish robust ethical frameworks, guidelines, and regulations. There is a vacuum of dialogue and initiative to architect these frameworks. Diplomacy between hostile states regarding technology of this nature is long overdue. Transparency, accountability, and ongoing dialogue are essential to navigate the ethical complexities inherent in genetic research and its applications in society.
If one nation holds civilization-ending or society-transforming technology, it is important to be aware and be able to cooperate before whatever is inside this Pandora’s box emerges.
For good.