The transition to digital, expedited by the Covid-19 pandemic, has opened up new cybersecurity concerns. To learn more about data protection in the industry, Abi Millar looks back at five of the biggest pharma cybersecurity breaches of the decade, why they happened and what we can learn from them.
At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, digital adoption increased at a rate never seen before. With lockdowns and physical distancing measures in place, pharma companies rapidly moved towards remote working and cloud-based systems.
At the same time, their race to develop a vaccine commanded headlines. Pharma companies were effectively entrusted with ending the pandemic, making them an attractive target for hackers who wanted to steal trade secrets.
This created a perfect storm for cybercrime, giving hackers both the means and the motivation to step up their criminal activities. It was just the latest iteration of a problem that has been intensifying over the last ten years. And it highlighted the critical importance of cybersecurity, particularly where public health is at stake.
Read the rest of this article in the September 2021 edition of Pharma Technology Focus
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