Unknown cyber attackers have broken into the PC’s of the European Medicines Agency. Information from Biontech and Pfizer were stolen. The EMA is silent about the incident. In a hacker attack on the EMA in Netherlands, information from the companies Pfizer and Biontech were intercepted. The two companies announced this in a joint statement on Thursday night after they had been informed of the hacking by the EMA.
Accordingly, some files in connection with the two companies for approval of their vaccine against Covid-19 were caught in the cyber activity. Pfizer and Biontech also emphasized that their networks had not been attacked in this content.
It is not yet known who is responsible for the criminality on the EMA. But one thing has already become clear: The infrastructures should be better protected against hacker attacks.
No Impact On The Approval Phase
The companies were also informed by EMA that the cyber activity had no effects on the approval phase for the vaccine. The EMA itself did not provide any information about the attack, neither about the extent of the documents hacked nor about assumptions about the cyber criminals.
A spokesman for the companies only confirmed the attack on Wednesday afternoon, and a later message from the European Medicines Agency did not provide any data. The agency only announced that an investigation had been opened. While the investigation is ongoing, no data could be released.
EMA Praised Biontech and Pfizer
European Medicines Agency did not commented negatively on Wednesday evening about the approval of the vaccine from the two companies. Until then, the authorities would control the results day and night. The company emphasized that no concessions would be made to security. The EMA also assesses, among other things, the vaccine from the company Moderna. A decision on approval is expected in a few days.
