Dr. Natasha Kathuria discusses the distribution and effectiveness of the coronavirus vaccine while Novavax reports the test results.
As the nation prepares to expand access to COVID-19 vaccines, pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens are stepping up security efforts against so-called “robot climbers” who are anxiously waiting to stock up on vaccine schedules.
Following the recent announcement by the Biden government that it will soon begin distributing around 1 million doses of vaccines a week to around 6,500 pharmacies across the country, security companies have alerted retailers like CVS and Walgreens, who are helping with these efforts. of distribution, to be cautious that these climbing robots can accumulate vaccine appointments as soon as they become available.
Just as climbing robots in the past purchased the latest PlayStation or Microsoft Xbox consoles as soon as they hit the market, subsequently selling them at a higher price, security companies expressed concerns that these scalping bots could target the vaccine pharmacy schedules marked in the same way, urging retailers to step up their defenses to prevent such attacks.
“The queue jumpers are branching out. Its tools are now being used to target other high-demand items, ”Matt Gracey-McMinn, head of threat research at bot security firm Netacea, told Reuters.
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A Walgreens employee told the establishment that the company is “working to ensure that only authorized and eligible patients have access to schedule a vaccine appointment.”
“To do this, security measures, such as bot detection and prevention, will play a key role in delivering this critical service to patients,” said Jim Cameli, director of information security for the Walgreens Boots Alliance.
CVS, for its part, is also stepping up its safety game before the vaccine expands, which could start on February 11.
“Our vaccination appointment site has a layered defense that includes features to detect automated cyber attacks, such as botnets. These features, along with our application design and user input validation, allow us to validate legitimate users, ”a CVS Health spokesman told the news agency.
Meanwhile, Walmart has announced that pharmacies in its Walmart stores and Sam’s Club warehouses are also joining the federal government to assist in expanded distribution efforts. In a press release, the retail giant said that eligible customers and members can guarantee a meeting “directly through a scheduling tool on Walmart and Sam’s Club websites”, but only as long as the “allocation lasts”.
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As for its security efforts – Walmart faced attacks from climbing robots for game consoles in December – the company told Reuters it plans to “focus on security and any necessary mitigation measures that will help us provide fair vaccination registrations and equitable ”.
Such an attack could have devastating consequences in a country that has seen only 35.2 million vaccines administered so far, despite the United States leading the world in cases of viruses and deaths.
“Several of our clients came to us concerned about the daunting dilemma they will face: how do we manage vaccine appointments without being interrupted by automated bot attacks?” Edward Roberts, an expert at security company Imperva, told Reuters. “The dam will explode as soon as vaccines are available to all citizens.”