LONDON (AP) – The European Union drug regulator said on Friday that COVID-19 vaccine documents stolen from its servers by hackers have not only been leaked to the Internet, but have been ‘manipulated’.
The European Medicines Agency said that an ongoing investigation has revealed that hackers have been receiving emails and documents from November regarding the evaluation of experimental coronavirus vaccines. The agency, which regulates drugs and medicines in the 27 member states of the EU, had a wealth of confidential COVID-19 data as part of the vaccine approval process.
“Some of the correspondence was manipulated by the perpetrators prior to publication in a way that could undermine confidence in vaccines,” the Netherlands-based agency said.
“We have seen that some of the correspondence is not published in its integrity and original form and, or with, comments or additions from the perpetrators.”
The agency didn’t explain exactly what information was changed, but cybersecurity experts say such practices are typical of disinformation campaigns launched by governments.
Italian cybersecurity firm Yarix said it found the 33-megabyte leak on a well-known underground forum titled “Amazing Fraud! Evil Pfffizer! Fake Vaccines!” It was apparently first posted on Dec. 30 and later appeared on other sites, also on the dark web, the company said on its website.
Yarix said “The intent behind the cybercriminal leak is certain: to significantly damage the reputation and credibility of EMA and Pfizer.”
Cybersecurity adviser Lukasz Olejnik said he believed the intent was much broader.
“I am concerned that this release has significant potential to sow mistrust in the EMA process, vaccines and vaccination in Europe in general,” he said. “While it is unclear who is behind this operation, it is clear that someone has decided to allocate resources to it.”
“This is an unprecedented operation aimed at validating pharmaceutical material, with potentially wide-ranging negative effects on the health of Europeans if it leads to undermining confidence in the vaccine,” added Olejnik.
EMA said law enforcement authorities are taking “necessary action” in response to the hack and a criminal investigation is underway.
It said that given the devastating toll of the pandemic, there was “an urgent public health need to make vaccines available to EU citizens as soon as possible.” The EMA insisted that despite that urgency, its decisions to recommend the green lighting of vaccines were based “on the strength of the scientific evidence about the safety, quality and efficacy of a vaccine, and nothing else.”
The Amsterdam-based EMA came under heavy criticism from Germany and other EU member states in December for not approving vaccines against the virus faster. The agency made its first recommendation for the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine weeks after the shot was approved in Britain, the United States, Canada and elsewhere.
Earlier this month, the EMA recommended using a second vaccine made by Moderna. A third image taken by AstraZeneca and Oxford is currently pending at the agency.
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AP Technology Writer Frank Bajak contributed from Boston.
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