I N D U S T R Y I N V E S T I G A T I O N
headlines , smaller attacks that don ’ t attract much media attention are far more common .
The knock-on effects of these attacks are multiple , and expensive , as the pharma industry is home to both sensitive data and expensive technology . It is also highly regulated by the Food and Drug Administration with severe penalties for noncompliance . A 2020 report found that the average cost of a breach exceeds US $ 5 million , and threats take an average of 257 days to be detected and contained . That ’ s to say nothing of the setbacks to the development of potentially life-saving medicines .
And as the industry continues to embrace digitisation and innovate , especially around Internet of Things ( IoT ) technologies , the available avenues for attacks will keep growing too . Remember , many IoT devices aren ’ t designed with security in mind . While things have improved since cyber criminals leveraged IoT devices to take down large portions of the web in 2016 , they remain a potentially serious point of vulnerability .
A growing need for cybersecurity investment
Against that backdrop , it ’ s critical that pharmaceutical companies and organisations make the necessary investments in cybersecurity .
An incident-response approach simply will not suffice either . Companies need to have a proactive , top-down approach to protection , putting in place protections for all businesscritical applications .
Additionally , with the amount of data stored in the cloud increasing , and the need to share information and collaborate across departments and indeed care providers and universities ,
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