The hackers who stole data from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) manipulated emails before leaking them online in an effort to sow distrust about the bloc’s approval process for COVID-19 vaccines, the agency said today.
In an update about the investigation, the EMA said internal correspondence relating to the approval procedures of COVID-19 vaccines “has been manipulated by the perpetrators [hackers] prior to publication in a way which could undermine trust in vaccines.”
Data obtained in the cyberattack was leaked online, the agency said earlier this week, including internal emails.
The manipulation of emails could undermine public trust in the approval of the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine and the Moderna vaccine, two vaccines that were approved end-December and early-January and are currently being rolled out across the bloc, the agency said.
Several EU countries — most notably France — face high public resistance to taking the jab, according to recent polls.
The agency defended its handling of the vaccines approval process, saying “authorisations are granted when the evidence shows convincingly that the benefits of vaccination are greater than any risks of the vaccine.”
The EMA in December revealed its systems had been breached and information about the BioNTech/Pfizer coronavirus vaccine was “unlawfully accessed†in the attack. As yet the attack has not been attributed.
Coronavirus vaccine producers, research institutions and medical authorities have all faced a barrage of cyberattacks since the start of the pandemic, including one on British producer AstraZeneca linked to North Korean hackers, as countries across the world rush to roll out a working vaccine against the virus.
