The hacking attempts targeted a “broad set of people,” including staff working on the COVID-19 investigation, one of the sources said, but they are not believed to have been successful.
AstraZeneca, which has become one of the top three developers of COVID-19 vaccines, declined to comment.
Any stolen information could be sold for profit, used to extort money from victims or give foreign governments a valuable strategic advantage as they fight to contain a disease that has killed 1.4 million people around the world.