Just one week after receiving approval from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) to conduct human trials of Russia’s Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine, Indian pharmaceutical company Dr. Reddy’s announced it was a target of a cyberattack. In a statement released on October 22, Chief Information Officer Mukesh Rathi told the National Stock Exchange of India that the company had to isolate all its data centers to contain the attack. He added that they anticipate all services to be up and running within 24 hours, while the incident shouldn’t impact any of the operations. The Indian headquarters wasn’t the only one affected, but also worldwide sites, including ones in the US, UK, Russia, and Brazil.
Dr. Reddy’s refused to comment on whether its manufacturing facilities had been affected or not. But according to local media reports, production in some premises was disrupted. Moreover, the company’s phone lines in the Cambridgeshire and Yorkshire sites in the UK were down, but there was no confirmation if this is connected to the attack. Dr. Reddy’s supplies medicines to the NHS in the United Kingdom, with a headquarters in Beverley, Yorkshire. It produces more than 200 medicines for oncology, gastroenterology, pain management, and cardiovascular conditions.
In a recent update on the cyberattack incident, the company confirmed that it involved ransomware – malware that enables hackers to access and encrypt corporate data, files, and systems. The pharmaceutical company said it promptly contacted external cybersecurity experts to investigate and address the issue while also launching a “comprehensive containment and remediation effort.” The statement added there were no indications of compromised personally identifiable information stored in the system so far. “Recovery and restoration of all applications and data is underway. All critical operations are being enabled in a controlled manner,” the statement continued.
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