Pharma and Lifescience – Is SecOps a Key Strategy?

Specialized industries like pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, and healthcare are also among the major industries which have been on the receiving end of the ongoing cyber-attack. In fact, these industries are among the most favored by cybercriminals because the value of the information they can obtain is very high.

We all are aware of some of the most notorious pharma targeted cyber-attacks of the past. Merck and LabCorp were few who bore the brunt of the ransomware attack under which the companies were held hostage to and payment had to be made to the criminals to retrieve back the data. It’s important to acknowledge that a data breach is more than just “another security incident.” It instantly creates the type of ripple effect that could bring even the strongest brand to its proverbial knees.

Today, as the pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies are moving towards the increased adaptation of digitization, their data security has become more critical. The buzzwords like Cloud, IoT, Big data are the new attractions that have lured pharmaceutical & healthcare companies alike with their advanced benefits. However, with every new opportunity comes risk as well. Loss of critical and sensitive data and intellectual property (IP) can literally damage the reputation of these companies and it goes without saying that these attacks would have huge business impact. Sensitive data of patients like personal and health records, clinical trial records and other IP’s could be a huge risk of a breach. So, it becomes extremely important for pharmaceutical and healthcare companies to tread with caution while latching on to these tech advancements of today.

Also, another concerning aspect of cyber attacks on the pharma industry is that not only has the frequency of attacks grown but also the time to detect these breach is also very high. Its time the pharma industry acknowledges the new wave of cyber-attacks at their doorstep and bring about a new approach that not only prevents and addresses these attacks but also pre-empts them. These threats have the potential to not only cause business interruption but they could also lead to erosion of trust which the companies have built with clients over a long period of time.

Being at the eye of the storm, pharmaceutical and healthcare companies have started giving paramount importance to the security of their data. It’s been proven that the prevailing security practices will have to undergo a complete change to match to the level of sophistication that the attackers are using today. There’s an urgent need to secure the valuable data, prevent data loss, be it personal or intellectual. Having a robust Security Operations Centre (SOC) can help them build processes around monitoring, mitigating, and responding to cyber-attacks be it internal or external.

Here are 4 Reasons Why You as a Pharmaceutical Company need a SOC(Security Operations Center)!

1. Modernization & Digitalization 

As Pharma companies are moving towards greater digitalization and adapting to new tech reforms, more & more resources are now stored in digitally, and so there is an increased need to protect this from cybercriminals.

2. Stringent Compliance & Industry Regulations 

There’s constant pressure from regulatory bodies for the Pharma industry to comply with the parameters set by them.

3. Adoption of Cloud & IoT

As organizations are adopting to cloud technology & IoT, their data is no longer available only on-premise, it is spread across their own datacentre and is now connected with the web of the internet, thus becoming vulnerable to attacks.

4. Data Privacy

Pharma industries must safeguard patient’s personal and health information as well as the IPs information related to drugs being developed from getting compromised as it is of crucial importance and loss of this data can have large scale impact.

In addition to having a robust SOC, Pharma companies can do a few things to strengthen their security posture:

• Investing in awareness initiatives
• Training programs
• The proactive approach instead of reactive
• Having well-documented security protocols
• Implementing 2-factor authentication solution for critical data
• Periodical audits
• Investing in user behavior analytics platform

To summarize, having a SOC allows you to have dynamic security that acts as a real bastion of analysis, monitoring, prevention, and remediation. You need to protect your intellectual property from cybercriminals initiating cyberattacks. An effective SOC provides considerable assurance and the ability to respond appropriately and effectively in the event of an attack. SHI (Formerly Locuz) Security Operations Center provides an analysis of potential security risks to your network, firewalls, servers, and applications. Outsourcing your security operations will give you the peace of mind you deserve, as we provide 24/7 staffed monitoring and management services. Our experts help you manage your risk, reduce costs, and ensure regulatory compliance.