Novo Nordisk B A/S (NVO), the Danish pharmaceutical firm, has announced it's looking into claims made by the cyber extortion group FulcrumSec, which alleges that over a terabyte of company data was stolen after Novo Nordisk supposedly refused to pay a $25 million ransom.
FulcrumSec, a hacking group that surfaced in late 2025, claims they spent more than two months infiltrating Novo Nordisk's network and got around 1.3 terabytes of data.
The group says that what they took includes everything from source code and sensitive information on both released and upcoming drugs to clinical trial data, employee records, physician and patient information, details about manufacturing facilities, and internal AI model data.
Novo Nordisk has acknowledged that it's aware of claims suggesting that the data taken from its systems has been published online. They emphasized that they're taking this situation seriously, are in touch with the relevant authorities, and are keeping regular operations running across their main platforms.
According to the hackers, Novo Nordisk reached out to them after their initial contact and confirmed their identity by asking for specific files.
FulcrumSec mentioned that the company chose not to pay the $25 million ransom, which led the group to think about selling parts of the stolen data, especially information linked to drug development and other internal documents.
Earlier, the company had revealed a cybersecurity incident on June 11 that involved unauthorized access to some internal IT systems and specific personal data. Reuters has said it couldn't independently verify the legitimacy of the data the hackers claim to have obtained.
As one of the largest pharmaceutical companies worldwide, Novo Nordisk is particularly recognized for its successful diabetes and obesity treatments, Ozempic and Wegovy.
This alleged breach underscores the rising cybersecurity threats that major healthcare and pharmaceutical companies face, as sensitive patient information, clinical data, and intellectual property are prime targets for cybercriminals.
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