European medical agency hit by cyberattack

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) announced Wednesday that it had been hit by a cyberattack, becoming the latest health care group to be targeted by hackers.

“EMA has been the subject of a cyberattack,” the organization wrote in a post on its website. “The Agency has swiftly launched a full investigation, in close cooperation with law enforcement and other relevant entities.”

EMA said that it “cannot provide additional details whilst the investigation is ongoing. Further information will be made available in due course.”

Hours after the EMA went public about the attack, BioNTech and Pfizer, which submitted their COVID-19 vaccine to the EMA for evaluation earlier this month, put out a separate statement saying that EMA had informed them that some of the evaluation documents had been accessed during the attack.

“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,” the two companies said in a joint statement. “At this time, we await further information about EMA’s investigation and will respond appropriately and in accordance with EU law. EMA has assured us that the cyber attack will have no impact on the timeline for its review.”

The Hill has reached out to the EMA for further comment on the attack. The agency’s website was functioning normally at the time of publication.