The European Medicines Agency (EMA) revealed that information about COVID-19 vaccines has been involved in a third-party data breach toward the end of December, reported The Hill. Recently, pandemic-related info has been leaked.
The vaccine data involved in the leak are those from Pfizer and BioNTech, as well as Moderna. EMA informed the companies of the incident involving their files, which cover evaluation documents.
A report by ZDNet explained that the attack happened through a breach involving an undisclosed IT application. Moreover, hackers are particularly aiming to get COVID-19 related data, especially those associated with medicines and vaccines.
In a statement, the EMA said, “The ongoing investigation of the cyberattack on EMA revealed that some of the unlawfully accessed documents related to COVID-19 medicines and vaccines belonging to third parties have been leaked on the internet.”
Regarding the action taken to address the issue, the EMA assured the public, “Necessary action is being taken by the law enforcement authorities.”
The attack, which occurred after the two research companies filed their vaccines for the Amsterdam-based EMA approval to gain verification for emergency use in the European Union. Both vaccines have been approved for use back in December 2020 and January this year.
According to the agency, “The Agency continues to fully support the criminal investigation into the data breach and to notify any additional entities and individuals whose documents and personal data may have been subject to unauthorized access.”
The EMA and other medicines regulatory bodies in Europe continue to operate as normal. All are able to uphold timelines regarding the evaluation and approval of medicines and vaccines.
The report by The Hill noted that the Agency is not the first government organization focused on the pandemic that has been targeted by attackers.
Before this, ZDNet said that the United Kingdom’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has issued a warning that universities and scientific facilities may fall victim to hacks, especially those sponsored by other states, in order to access relevant data.
Microsoft has also warned against state-sponsored attacks aiming at vaccine producers. The World Health Organization also issued memos warning about increased rates of health-related attacks across the globe
Aside from EMA, the World Health Organization and the United States Department of Health and Human Services have both been attacked by hackers in 2020. Hospitals were also targets of various ransomware attacks.
