Hackers Steal COVID-19 Vaccine Data from Pfizer/BioNTech

Earlier this month, the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech submitted the required documents for their COVID-19 vaccine review to the European Medicines Agency.

Two days ago, in an unfortunate cyberattack, the documents were “unlawfully accessed” from European Medicines Agency’s (EMA) database. Both the companies and the medicine regulator confirmed the attack in a statement.
It is unclear when and how the attack took place, and what information was accessed, but the target organization believes that the hackers have not stolen any of the trial participants’ personal data. Thankfully, this attack will not impact the timeline of the review and the vaccine, if safe, will be approved on time.
In the statement, Pfizer and BioNTech said,

The EMA has informed that the agency has been subject to a cyber-attack and that some documents relating to the regulatory submission for Pfizer and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate had been accessed. EMA has assured us that the cyber-attack will have no impact on the timeline for its review.

Neither of the involved parties are sure who is behind the attack. However, while talking about the matter, Rogers, founder of a volunteer group fighting Covid-related breaches CTI-League, explained,

When it comes to the data submitted to these kinds of regulatory bodies, we are talking confidential information about the vaccine and its mechanism of action, its efficiency, its risks & known possible side effects and any unique aspects such as handling guidelines. It also provides detailed information on other parties involved in the supply and distribution of the vaccine and potentially significantly increases the attack surface for the vaccine.
As far as Pfizer and BioNTech are concerned, their systems have not been breached in connection with the incident but neither of the companies are ready to comment any further on the matter.

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