Cyberattack disrupts Evotec’s drug production

Major German drug development firm Evotec had its drug production stalled amid ongoing recovery from a cyberattack on April 6 that downed all of its systems, reports The Record, a news site by cybersecurity firm Recorded Future. Investigation into Evotec's systems following the attack, which has already been reported to German law enforcement agencies, is underway, and while the drug company has not yet resumed its network connection, it has ensured business continuity across global sites. "Highest diligence is applied to data integrity, and selected systems will stay offline until the forensic examination has been completed and security plans are in place. Solutions will be implemented to keep all services available to its partners, but certain delays or slower responses might occur," said Evotec, which called on its partners and suppliers to use a centralized email address for communications amid the ongoing restoration of its email system. Attackers behind the compromise of Evotec are yet to be identified. Such an intrusion comes just two weeks after a ransomware attack was reported by Sun Pharmaceuticals, the fourth largest specialty generic pharmaceutical firm worldwide.