A cyber extortion group has claimed it stole more than a terabyte of data from Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk after the company allegedly refused to pay a $25 million ransom.
The group, known as FulcrumSec, said on Tuesday it had spent more than two months inside Novo Nordisk’s internal systems, extracting sensitive information including source code, proprietary drug data, clinical trial records and internal artificial intelligence models.
In a statement posted online, FulcrumSec said the breach included data on both released and unreleased pharmaceutical products, as well as employee, physician and patient information.
Novo Nordisk confirmed it was aware of the claims, saying it had identified a cybersecurity incident earlier this month involving unauthorised access to a limited number of internal IT systems.
The company said it was in contact with relevant authorities and that its core platforms remained operational.
Reuters said it could not independently verify the authenticity of the leaked material.
FulcrumSec said it first contacted Novo Nordisk executives on 1 June and claimed company representatives responded two days later through a Proton Mail address, requesting specific files as proof of the breach.
The group said it is now considering private sales of portions of the data after negotiations failed.
Novo Nordisk, one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, is best known for blockbuster obesity and diabetes treatments Wegovy and Ozempic, which have become central to the fast-growing global weight-loss drug market.
Cybersecurity researchers say FulcrumSec is a relatively new but increasingly active extortion group. Thomas Willkan of Lab-1 said the group has built a reputation for credible breaches and technical sophistication.
The hackers said they would not release certain datasets, including files related to roughly 11,500 pseudonymised clinical trial participants and sensitive operational technology used in production facilities, citing what they described as a “harm-reduction strategy.”
The breach underscores growing cybersecurity risks facing the pharmaceutical industry, where clinical trial data, proprietary drug research and manufacturing systems have become high-value targets for ransomware and extortion groups.
Industry analysts warn such incidents can carry major financial, legal and reputational consequences, particularly when patient or trial data is involved.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei has ordered Iran's armed forces to respond to any threat immediately and without geographical li...
A tenth-grade student was critically injured after a man attacked her with a chainsaw inside a classroom in Andhra Pradesh’s Anantapur distri...
Cryptocurrencies are volatile, and their crashes make headlines. But does a slump in digital coins ever spill over into the pounds, dollars and eur...
The Middle East conflict remains tense as diplomatic efforts continue alongside renewed Houthi attacks. Iran says it remains open to mediation, while the Saudi-led coalition says it intercepted a ballistic missile fired towards the kingdom.
Evacuations and the provision of humanitarian aid in the Russian-occupied southern Ukrainian town of Oleshky have begun, a senior Ukrainian official said on Friday. In a statement on Telegram, David Arakhamia said a six-day ceasefire was holding, and that more details would follow.
Qatari mediators returned to Tehran on Friday as part of efforts to reach a deal between the U.S. and Iran, according to an official briefed on the talks.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia remains willing to rebuild relations with European countries but warned that any wider conflict on the continent would leave no winners, as he commented on recent diplomatic contacts with Nordic leaders and growing security concerns in the Baltic region.
Hackers have pulled off a staggering $6.3 billion cryptocurrency heist targeting Binance, shaking confidence in one of the world's biggest digital asset exchanges and sending crypto prices tumbling. U.S. analysts suspect North Korea was behind the attack.
A tenth-grade student was critically injured after a man attacked her with a chainsaw inside a classroom in Andhra Pradesh’s Anantapur district. The girl suffered severe injuries to her head, neck and back, while a classmate who tried to protect her was also hurt.
Deep divisions over Russia's war in Ukraine overshadowed a G20 foreign ministers' meeting in Atlanta on Friday, as European officials criticised Moscow's participation and refused to join a traditional group photograph with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
The U.S. has approved the sale of 500 Patriot PAC-3 missiles to Ukraine in a deal worth an estimated $2.1 billion, but Kyiv could face years of delays before receiving the weapons it urgently needs to defend against intensifying Russian attacks.
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global body responsible for monitoring money laundering and terrorist financing risks, has removed four countries from its so-called “grey list” after determining they had made sufficient progress in addressing weaknesses in their financial cr
The death toll from the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has surpassed 5,000, according to government figures released on Friday, as health authorities continue to struggle to contain the country's worst-ever Ebola epidemic.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment