2022-12-16 Bruker Cellular Analysis, Inc. Cybersecurity Incident

Page last updated on April 11, 2024

Bruker Cellular Analysis, Inc. initially disclosed a cybersecurity incident in an SEC 8-K filing on 2022-12-16 16:10:53 EST.

Incident Details

Material: Unknown
Is Breach: Unknown
Records Compromised: Unknown
Data Types Impacted: No Data Types Tracked (yet)

Compromised Date: 2022-10-07
Detected Date:
Disclosure Date: 2022-12-16
Contained Date:
Recovered Date:

Attack Goal: Unknown

Costs: No Costs Tracked (yet)

Filings

8-K filed on 2022-12-16

Bruker Cellular Analysis, Inc. filed an 8-K at 2022-12-16 16:10:53 EST
Accession Number: 0001104659-22-127816

Item 8.01 Other Events.

In November 2022, Berkeley Lights, Inc. (the “Company”) became aware that an unknown third-party (“Bad Actor”), impersonating a Company employee over e-mail through domain spoofing, fraudulently induced the Company’s transfer agent (the “Transfer Agent”) to issue and convey 3.3 million purported shares of the Company’s common stock, which shares the Company believes were subsequently sold on the open market approximately between October 7, 2022, and November 3, 2022. For reference, as of September 30, 2022, 68,574,957 shares of the Company’s common stock were outstanding, which does not include the purported shares.

The Company’s internal controls detected the invalid and unauthorized issuance in connection with its routine procedures. As soon as it detected this issue, the Company immediately implemented countermeasures to prevent further invalid issuances and launched its own investigation. In addition, after consultation with the Company’s legal and forensic advisors, the Board of Directors of the Company (the “Board”) decided to report the incident to law enforcement authorities, who requested that the Company voluntarily delay public disclosure of the incident, subject to the Company’s legal and regulatory obligations, while law enforcement took steps to investigate the incident. The Company also reported the incident to the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) and informed the SEC that it was actively investigating the matter. The Company intends to continue to cooperate with law enforcement investigations and actions to pursue the Bad Actor.

Working with the Transfer Agent, the Company has recovered approximately $9.2 million in cash. That amount is approximately equal to the trading value of the purported shares at issue as of December 16, 2022. In addition, the Company engaged a third-party cybersecurity firm to conduct an independent investigation of the Company’s systems. The forensic investigators concluded that the Bad Actor never gained unauthorized access to the Company’s systems, and that the incident was not caused or otherwise facilitated by a breach of the Company’s systems.

The Board is evaluating further remedial measures, including a share repurchase and other legally available corrective actions, in the best interests of the Company and its stockholders.

Item 8.01 Other Events.

In November 2022, Berkeley Lights, Inc. (the “Company”) became aware that an unknown third-party (“Bad Actor”), impersonating a Company employee over e-mail through domain spoofing, fraudulently induced the Company’s transfer agent (the “Transfer Agent”) to issue and convey 3.3 million purported shares of the Company’s common stock, which shares the Company believes were subsequently sold on the open market approximately between October 7, 2022, and November 3, 2022. For reference, as of September 30, 2022, 68,574,957 shares of the Company’s common stock were outstanding, which does not include the purported shares.

The Company’s internal controls detected the invalid and unauthorized issuance in connection with its routine procedures. As soon as it detected this issue, the Company immediately implemented countermeasures to prevent further invalid issuances and launched its own investigation. In addition, after consultation with the Company’s legal and forensic advisors, the Board of Directors of the Company (the “Board”) decided to report the incident to law enforcement authorities, who requested that the Company voluntarily delay public disclosure of the incident, subject to the Company’s legal and regulatory obligations, while law enforcement took steps to investigate the incident. The Company also reported the incident to the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) and informed the SEC that it was actively investigating the matter. The Company intends to continue to cooperate with law enforcement investigations and actions to pursue the Bad Actor.

Working with the Transfer Agent, the Company has recovered approximately $9.2 million in cash. That amount is approximately equal to the trading value of the purported shares at issue as of December 16, 2022. In addition, the Company engaged a third-party cybersecurity firm to conduct an independent investigation of the Company’s systems. The forensic investigators concluded that the Bad Actor never gained unauthorized access to the Company’s systems, and that the incident was not caused or otherwise facilitated by a breach of the Company’s systems.

The Board is evaluating further remedial measures, including a share repurchase and other legally available corrective actions, in the best interests of the Company and its stockholders.

Company Information