Coronavirus: Cyber ​​attack on EMA: Pfizer / Biontech data capture

During a cyberattack on the European Medicines Agency EMA in Amsterdam Data from the pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Biontech been taken advantage of. The two companies announced it in a joint statement Thursday night after the EMA informed them of the attack. Consequently, the attack covered “some documents” related to the request of the two companies for the approval of their vaccine against the corona virus.

Pfizer and Biontech also emphasized that their respective systems had not been attacked in this context.. Be also according to your knowledge no data on test subjects become accessible. The EMA also informed drug companies that the attack had “no effect” on the vaccine approval process.

EMA Director Emer Cooke commented positively on Wednesday on the possible approval of the corona vaccine from Biontech and Pfizer. “We are more and more convinced of the test results that we have,” he said in an interview with the Dutch television news magazine Nieuwsuur. A decision will be made at the end of December. The vaccine shows a high efficacy of almost 95 percent in 30,000 test people and has hardly any side effects.

The EMA itself did not provide more detailed information on the cyber attack, nor on the extent of the files attacked, nor on the assumptions about the attackers. A spokesperson for the authority only confirmed the attack on Wednesday afternoon, and a subsequent notification from the EMA did not provide any details. The agency only announced that a full investigation had been opened. While the investigation is ongoing, no details could be provided. (sda / dpa)