Pfizer/BioNtech is latest vaccine hit by hackers

In this article:

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and its German partner, BioNTech are saying that hackers have stolen data related to development of their coronavirus vaccine -- in a cyberattack on the European Union's medicines regulator.

The European Medicines Agency has confirmed they were targeted in a cyberattack, but gave no further details.

And the incident is the latest in a string of hacking attempts against healthcare and medical organizations related to pandemic response.

Reuters has previously reported on allegations that hackers linked to North Korea, South Korea, Iran, Vietnam, China and Russia have on separate occasions tried to steal information about the virus and potential treatments.

Pfizer and BioNTech said they did not believe that any personal data of trial participants had been compromised

and had been assured by the EU agency that the attack will have no impact on the timeline for its review which is due to be completed on December 29.

It was not immediately clear when or how the attack took place or who was responsible.

Advertisement