Data from Pfizer vaccine against COVID-19 stolen in cyber attack

A cyber attack targeting the European Medicines Agency (EMA) culminated in the theft of technical information regarding the vaccine against COVID-19 which is being developed by the American Pfizer in partnership with the German BioNTech. The European regulatory body itself confirmed the incident, but gave no details on how the invasion occurred.

In an official statement, the EMA explained that “the agency was the victim of a cyber attack and that some documents related to the regulatory delivery of the candidate vaccine against COVID-19 from Pfizer and BioNTech were accessed illegally”, but guaranteed that “no company system BioNTech or Pfizer was breached in connection with this incident and we are not aware that any study participants were identified through the data being accessed ”.

It is not yet clear how sensitive these documents are – EMA, Pfizer and BioNTech chose not to respond to questions from the international press. It is worth noting that the vaccine in question is one of the “favorites” globally speaking, having recently been approved by the British government as an official immunizer for the UK. There, its emergency use has already been approved, and the estimated date for the end of the EMA technical analysis was 29 December.

It is worth noting that, although this is a serious incident, it is known that companies in the pharmaceutical sector involved in the manufacture of vaccines and drugs against the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV2) are being frequently victims of cyber attacks, both organized by criminal unions and state agents. Phishing is the most used tactic in these cases, deceiving employees with fake emails about the disease itself.

Source: Bleeping Computer