Cyberattack on a European Medicines Agency

As a result of a cyberattack on the European Medicines Agency (EMA), attackers managed to steal Pfizer’s vaccine documentation. A notice has already been published on the official website of the EMA, which confirms the fact of the attack. It also informs about the involvement of law enforcement officers in the investigation of the incident.

IBM X-Force experts warned of possible attacks on the vaccine supply chain in early December 2020. They pointed to spear phishing targeted the top management of pharmaceutical companies and other participants in the vaccine supply process as the main attack method.

Spear phishing campaigns target specific people or profiles inside an organization. They take more resources than traditional – mass phishing – campaigns. Such attacks require time to collect information about the victim and properly personalize the communication to cheat even an experienced user. However, the investment usually pays off once the attack succeeds.

How to protect your company?

Cyberattack on the European Medicines Agency is one of many COVID-themed attacks conducted in 2020. Whether your organization is working in the same field, or just has secret and sensitive information to preserve, there is a few things you can do to protect yourself on top on antivirus solution.

Invest in security awareness. They say a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Cyber attackers can target employees from the marketing, HR, legal and even IT departments. Therefore, it is vital to develop cybersecurity awareness skills among various teams across the company.

Upskill top managers. Operational Security (OPSEC) understanding and common practice are essential for C-level managers who are the most common targets for cyber attackers aiming to abuse companies or individuals. The dedicated OPSEC training programs provide the necessary awareness based on real examples. They also help building an action plan to minimize the exposure to the current and future attacks by advanced adversaries. Request the next training date here.

Constantly monitor security activity. In case of the sucessful security breach, it takes from a few weeks to a few months to complete the attack. The malware remains unnoticed by antivirus solutions because of the lateral movements it makes to get access to the required machines and data. Constant security monitoring and analysis of anomalies and suspicious activity is important to recognize a cyber-attack at its early stage.

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