The persistent espionage makes all the sense in the world.

The "sophisticated" campaign coincides with an ongoing trade row between Canberra and Beijing.

It's a cautionary tale in the use of social engineering for espionage.

The memo includes multiple examples of state-linked hackers trying to compromise organizations in the health care and public health sector.

With a vaccine still many months away, organizations doing coronavirus research will continue to find themselves in the crosshairs of spies.

"APT groups and cybercriminals are likely to continue to exploit the COVID-19 pandemic over the coming weeks and months,” the agencies said.