Hackers Tried To Steal Pfizer's COVID-19 Vaccine Data, Report

On Wednesday, Pfizer and its partner BioNTech said documents about the development of the COVID-19 vaccine have been accessed during a cyberattack targeting the medicine regulator of Europe.

According to the EMS (short for European Medicines Agency) – the organization in charge of approving and assessing medicine and vaccine for the EU (European Union), a few hours earlier, it was under a cyberattack. However, the agency said nothing more on the matter.

Pfizer and BioNTech don’t believe the hackers have accessed trial participants’ personal data and the EMS said the attack wouldn’t affect the timeline for the agency’s review.

Neither Pfizer nor BioNTech have responded to the request for further information.

According to the two companies, their systems have not been reached and no trial participants have been identified as a result of the attack.

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is among the world’s most prominent in the race to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The vaccine has already been administered in the UK which approved its emergency use last week.

However, the vaccine is still undergoing review by the EU. The European Medicines Agency said the process would end on December 29 but the schedule might be changed.

The EMA didn’t elaborate on the details of the attack, only said that it was collaborating with the law enforcement to investigate the incident.

In a statement, it said the agency couldn’t provide further information and details of the attack would be made public in due course.

Cyberattacks targeting medical and healthcare organizations have increased in number since the COVID-19 pandemic started to wreak havoc all over the world. Attacks range from cybercriminals scramble to state-back spies.

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