Dr. Reddy's Shuts Key Plans, Isolates Data Centre Services After Cyberattack

The news comes just a few days after the Drug Control General of India (DCGI) had given its approval to Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories to conduct the phase 2 and 3 human trials of the Sputnik V vaccine in India.

By Gadgets 360 Staff With Inputs From Reuters | Updated: 22 October 2020 16:17 IST

Dr. Reddy's Shuts Key Plans, Isolates Data Centre Services After Cyberattack

Photo Credit: drreddys.com

Dr. Reddy's had entered into partnership with Russian Direct RDIF to conduct clinical trials of Sputnik V

Highlights

Dr. Reddy's has tie-ups with global firms to sell coronavirus treatments
Sputnik V is currently undergoing Phase 3 clinical trials in Russia
Hackers were trying to steal information about coronavirus vaccine

Pharmaceutical giant Dr. Reddy's Laboratories today said that it had isolated all its data centre services as a preventive measure following a cyberattack. The drug maker had shut its key plants globally due to the breach at its servers, ET Now had reported, citing sources. Its plants in the United States, United Kingdom, Brazil, India and Russia were among the ones impacted, the report added.

"We are anticipating all services to be up within 24 hours and we do not foresee any major impact on our operations due to this incident," Dr. Reddy's Chief Information Officer Mukesh Rathi said in a statement. Shares of the company, which has a partnership to run clinical trials of Russia's Sputnik-V COVID-19 vaccine in India, fell as much as 4.3 percent after the news broke.

The news comes just a few days after the Drug Control General of India (DCGI) had given its approval to Dr. Reddy's Laboratories to conduct the phase 2 and 3 human trials of the Sputnik V vaccine in India. The company had said this will be a multi-center and randomised controlled study. The Hyderabad-based Dr. Reddy's had entered into a partnership with Russian Direct RDIF in September 2020 to conduct clinical trials of Sputnik V vaccine and its distribution in India. It also has tie-ups with global firms to sell coronavirus treatments remdesivir and favipiravir in India.

[Sponsored] Samsung Galaxy S24: The Ultimate Camera Phone With Smarter On-Device AI

Sputnik V is currently undergoing Phase 3 clinical trials in Russia and the proposed number of subjects is 40,000. Additionally, Phase 3 clinical trial of the vaccine commenced in the UAE last week.

Ironically, the intelligence agencies of the UK, US and Canada had issued a public statement in July this year accusing the hacking group APT29, also known as Cozy Bear, of attacking academic and pharmaceutical research institutions involved in COVID-19 vaccine development. The statements said that the hackers, believed to be a part of Russian intelligence, were trying to steal valuable private information about a coronavirus vaccine.

BHIM App Data Breach Exposes 'Highly Sensitive' Data of 70 Lakh Indians: Report

© Thomson Reuters 2020

Are iPhone 12 mini, HomePod mini the Perfect Apple Devices for India? We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.