Site offers access millions of scientific research papers which detectives say were illegally obtained through phishing attacks
(20 Mar 2021) Police are warning students and universities not to use a popular pirate website offering free access to millions of scientific research papers.
Sci-Hub, which was set up by Alexandra Elbakyan, a graduate student from Kazakhstan, claims to “remove all barriers in the way of science” by allowing users to avoid paying large fees to publishers such as Elsevier, Wiley and Springer.
But the City of London Police’s intellectual property crime unit described the website as a “cyber criminal” and said it used compromised login details to steal research papers.
The force claimed Sci-Hub used phishing emails to trick university staff and students into divulging their login credentials, which were then used to compromise the university’s network and download the research papers. At least 42 universities in the UK have been targeted in this way, according to PSI Registry, an independent organisation which helps publishers crack down on subscription fraud.
Read the full news here.
