The European Medicines Agency (EMA), which is responsible for evaluating drugs and vaccines in the European Union, was hit by a Cyber Attack in December last year, according to Amsterdam-based sources. Citing sources familiar with the investigation, Dutch newspaper People’s Daily reported that the cyber attack was carried out by Russian intelligence agencies and cyber spies with the Chinese Communist Party.
The Netherlands-based European Medicines Agency and Dutch and European law enforcement authorities have launched an investigation, but so far have not provided any specific details about who carried out the cyberattack. The report said the EMA was targeted by Chinese cyber spies in the first half of last year and by Russian intelligence agencies in the second half of last year. The newspaper quoted sources as saying that Chinese communist cyber spies gained access to the European Medicines Agency’s network by hacking into the system of a German university. Russia exploited the EMA’s lack of two-step login verification and other forms of cyber defense to carry out the cyberattack.
In connection with the investigation, European Medicines Agency spokeswoman Monika Benstetter said, “Law enforcement authorities and other entities are conducting a criminal investigation, and we will of course cooperate fully.” Sources told People’s Daily that the Russian Hackers, who allegedly gained access to the European Medicines Agency for more than a month, mainly wanted to know which countries might use the new crown vaccine developed by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, and how many doses of the vaccine they would buy.
Just hours after the EMA said it had been hit by the cyberattack, Pfizer and BioNTech said that their New Crown vaccine-related development data had been “illegally obtained” in the cyberattack against the EMA. Documents stolen by hackers from the European Medicines Agency were later posted online, but the agency said the content of the documents had been redacted.
On the other hand, the French Secretary of State for European Affairs, Clément Beaune, said in an interview on May 5 that “I think it would be very serious if they went for Chinese or Russian vaccines,” in response to the decision by the governments of Hungary and the Czech Republic to bypass the EU mechanism and start acquiring the new Chinese and Russian vaccines. “
Beaune stressed that “doing so raises a question of solidarity, but also a health issue. The Russian vaccine is not yet licensed in Europe, and the Chinese vaccine has not even been applied for.” He said, “These countries may not see the EU dose arrive if they insist on it. We can’t have the benefit of a huge EU framework and then look for country-based solutions that take care of themselves.”
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