Japanese pharma giant Eisai working with law enforcement to resolve ransomware attack

Japanese pharmaceutical company Eisai said it is working with law enforcement to deal with a ransomware attack that began late Saturday night.

Eisai, one of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in the world, released a statement on Tuesday saying some of the company’s servers were encrypted on June 3.

Officials at the 10,000-employee company created a task force and contacted law enforcement and external experts to help with the situation.

“Certain systems both in and outside of Japan, including logistics systems, have been taken offline as a result of the incident and our ongoing response process. Our corporate websites and email systems are operational at this time. The possibility of data leakage is currently under investigation,” the company said.

“Currently, Eisai Group is working closely with external experts and law enforcement in an effort to protect its systems and to make a successful recovery. We will continue to work to minimize any inconvenience to our partners and stakeholders.”

The company is also examining how the attack will impact its earnings forecast for the fiscal year. Eisai reported more than $5.3 billion in revenue in 2022.

No ransomware group has taken credit for the incident yet. Eisai is one of several pharmaceutical giants to report a cyberattack in recent months.

New York-based biosciences and diagnostics company Enzo Biochem said last week that the compromise of test information and personal data of nearly 2.5 million people was stolen during an April ransomware attack.

The largest pharmaceutical company in India – Sun Pharmaceuticals — confirmed a ransomware attack in March regulatory filings, explaining that the incident involved the theft of company data and personal information.

Earlier this year, one of the world’s largest pharmacy companies announced a data breach involving the sensitive personal data of nearly six million people after a ransomware group claimed it attacked the company.