Japanese Pharmaceutical Company Eisai Falls Victim to Ransomware Attack
Eisai, a Japanese pharmaceutical company, suffered a ransomware attack that took various servers and IT systems offline. The incident occurred late Saturday evening Japanese time, with some servers of the group of companies being encrypted. However, websites and e-mail servers are still functional.
Eisai Sets Up Working Group
Upon discovering encryption, Eisai immediately set up a company-wide working group. The group is working with external experts to restore systems and analyze the extent of the incident. Prosecutors were also consulted. IT security experts have taken certain systems offline both inside and outside of Japan, including logistics systems.
Investigations Ongoing
Investigations are ongoing to determine whether data has leaked. Eisai has not disclosed the specific effects of the ransomware incident, such as financial, production-related, or logistical. If logistics fail, this could exacerbate the shortage of medicines observed in Germany. Eisai has a branch in Germany, but requests for information on the specific effects on Eisai Germany have gone unanswered.
Eisai is a large pharmaceutical company with sales of around 5 billion euros in 2022. The group of companies has other branches and production facilities on almost every continent, including Africa, Asia, Europe, and North and South America. Deutsche Leasing, a large leasing company belonging to numerous savings banks in Germany, was recently hit by a cyber attack. The company had to take its IT systems offline.
