The European Medicines Agency (EMA), which is responsible for approving COVID-19, said yesterday that it had been hacked. In a two-paragraph statement posted on its website, the agency disclosed the security incident, but noted that it could not disclose further details about the attack as an investigation into the incident is currently underway.
The European Medicines Agency is in the process of reviewing applications for two vaccines – one from Moderna, and one developed in collaboration between BioNTech and Pfizer.
As ZDNet reports, a spokesperson for the agency declined to comment when asked about the hacking attack. Specifically, the spokesperson was asked if the attack was targeting the vaccine approval process or if it was a financially motivated attack like ransomware.
The news of the attack is estimated to be "exploited" with the aim of speculation among cybersecurity experts aboutthe real motives of the attack.
It is worth noting that in recent months, many companies working on COVID-19 vaccine research and development have been targeted by hackers, especially state-sponsored groups. Among them are the following: Johnson & Johnson, Novavax, Genexine, Shin Poong Pharmaceutical, Celltrion, AstraZeneca, Moderna and Gilead, as reported by Reuters and the Wall Street Journal.
Additionally, Microsoft said in November that it had identified three state-sponsored hacking groups targeting seven companies working on COVID-19 vaccine development . The most prominent of these are the Russian APT group “Fancy Bear,” the North Korean hacking gang “Lazarus,” and “Cerium . ”
Speaking at the Aspen Cyber Summit last week, Marene Allison, chief security officer at Johnson & Johnson, said that companies like her employer are seeing cyberattacks, allegedly by state-sponsored hackers, “every minute of the day.”
IBM also reported last week that hackers attempted to breach companies working in the "cold chain" of COVID-19 vaccine transportation.
Finally, the European Medicines Agency said it would provide more information about the hack when it learns more.
