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An Indian pharmaceutical company has revealed that it has fallen victim to a ransomware attack that could see the company’s revenue severely impacted.
Sun Pharmaceutical made the announcement in a disclosure notice to the National Stock Exchange of India on 26 March, following an earlier disclosure of an “IT security incident” on 2 March.
The new update confirms that the incident was a ransomware attack, and while Sun did not disclose the attacker, the BlackCat ransomware group has reportedly taken responsibility for the hack.
“The company currently believes that the incident’s effect on its IT systems includes a breach of certain file systems and the theft of certain company data and personal data,” Sun said in its disclosure statement.
The company is currently working on restoring its systems and has engaged “global cyber security experts” to address the attack.
“As part of the containment measures, we proactively isolated our network and initiated the recovery process,” the disclosure read. “As a result of these measures, [the] company’s business operations have been impacted. Consequently, revenues are expected to be reduced in some of our businesses.”
Sun also expects that further costs could be incurred, either from further cyber attacks stemming from the initial breach, increased insurance costs, or even possible litigation.
Sun Pharmaceutical is the largest such company in India and the fourth-largest pharmaceutical company in the world. Its products include pharmaceutical drugs, generic drugs, antiviral drugs, over-the-counter drugs, vaccines, diagnostics, and contact lenses.
It employs more than 37,000 people and does business in more than 100 countries.
Its annual revenue — which could well be lower this year — for 2022 was US$5 billion.
The BlackCat group — which is also known as ALPHV — has been in operation since at least 2012 and has recent form when it comes to going after the healthcare industry, as well as targets in the education sector.
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.
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