Security News > 2020 > December > EU Medicines Agency hacked, BioNTech-Pfizer coronavirus vaccine paperwork stolen, probe launched
The EU Medicines Agency today revealed it was hacked, just a week after infosec eggheads said foreign state hackers have been targeting European institutions.
BioNTech, the German biotech firm that is developing a COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine with Pfizer said it was told by EMA that the miscreants had stolen from an agency computer files submitted by BioNTech and Pfizer describing their vaccine as part of the regulatory approval process.
Specifically, we're told, "Documents relating to the regulatory submission for Pfizer and BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine candidate, BNT162b2, which has been stored on an EMA server, had been unlawfully accessed."
"It is important to note that no BioNTech or Pfizer systems have been breached in connection with this incident and we are unaware that any study participants have been identified through the data being accessed," BioNTech continued.
The EMA oversees and controls the work of EU member states' own medical regulatory agencies and plays a key role in the approval of potential coronavirus vaccines intended for use across the bloc's member states.