Pfizer-BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine data hacked in cyberattack on European Medicines Agency

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has been hit by a critical cyberattack that has led to the compromise of the drug regulator’s crucial data and the medical research documents related to the COVID-19 vaccine.

In an official press release on December 10, the EU agency notified that a probe was ordered into the suspicious activity, leading to a security threat, hack, and an organised cybercrime against its database. Meanwhile, Pfizer and BioNtech informed that its documents and the critical regulatory submissions were illegally accessed in the EMA attack. The agency has involved law enforcement and other relevant entities who’ve launched a full investigation into the cybercrime. 

"EMA cannot provide additional details whilst the investigation is ongoing. Further information will be made available in due course," the agency updated in a release. The warnings about the vaccine-related cyber crimes and the potential vaccine heists were sounded by the European Union Police Europol earlier. In an early warning notification, European Union police agency Europol said that the member states and third-party countries must stay vigilant against the organised crime scams linked to COVID-19 vaccines. 

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'Increased vigilance' was advised

The warning was issued after the European Medicines Agency (EMA) announced that it was set to conclude the evaluation of the first conditional marketing authorisation application for the vaccines. "Increased vigilance for criminal fraudulent activity is advised to all Member States," Europol said in a statement, stressing that criminals replacing genuine shots shipments with counterfeit vaccines. 

The Amsterdam-based agency has been reviewing data and working on the emergency authorisation of at least two COVID-19 vaccine candidates for distribution across the EU. Two of its vaccines were expected to reach completion in two weeks when news of its servers being hacked b ya potential threat emerged. However, in the press release, the company assured that the cyber attack "will have no impact on the timeline for its review."

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(Image Credit: Twitter/@EMA)