Japan-based pharmaceutical company Shionogi & Co. said Thursday that its Taiwanese subsidiary was hit by a cyberattack earlier this month that resulted in a data breach . However, it appears that information about a coronavirus vaccine was not leaked
According to the company, medical equipment import permits and employee residence permits were leaked on the "Dark Web" after a computer in the Taipei sales office was infected by a virus in mid-October.
The malicious actor has threatened the company that if it does not pay the ransom it has demanded, it will leak even more information online.
Shionogi said it did not detect any malicious activity on its computers or servers in its laboratories located in Japan.
While clinical trials are being conducted in Taiwan, the subsidiary does not deal with matters involving cutting-edge technology or personal information, the company said.
Japan is not the only country that has seen attacks related to research institutions involved in developing vaccines for the coronavirus.
A US information security firm said on Monday that some Japanese research institutions involved in coronavirus vaccine programs had experienced cyberattacks since April. Based on the techniques used, they suspect a Chinese hacking group is behind the attacks.
Attacks using ransomware, a type of malware that locks files and threatens to release the victim's data unless a ransom is paid, have increased in Japan.
Nobuo Miwa, president of information security firm S&J Corp. in Tokyo, warned that “information about a vaccine is attractive to criminals in addition to money.”
