The use of big data and advanced analytics is now essential for innovation across the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries. However, working with vast amounts of data — experimental data, clinical trial data, patient data — has become a double-edged sword as organizations face immense challenges in protecting data integrity and ensuring data security in today’s digital environment.

Meanwhile, the global pharmaceutical market will grow above $2 billion by 2028 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.7% between 2022 and 2028. With revenue depending on research and innovation and more of the processes going digital, pharma research data has become a prime target for threat actors who use various means to breach companies’ systems and steal their sensitive information.

Let’s review key data security issues that pharma research companies face and how to protect your sensitive information to help you navigate the complex cybersecurity environment.

Is Pharma Research Data Secure?

Unfortunately, no. The pharmaceutical industry has seen many data breaches in recent years.

In an analysis of 20 pharma companies, five had experienced over 200,000 data exposures and breaches. Some had as many as 400,000 exposures. Another study revealed that over 50% of hospitals, biotech firms, and pharmaceutical companies have more than 1,000 sensitive files accessible to all employees. 33% of these organizations have over 10,000 files exposed to every staff member.

IBM’s Cost of Data Breach 2022 report found that data breaches cost the pharma industry an average of $5.01 million between March 2021 and March 2022. Additionally, the high data regulation environment means these companies see costs accrue years following a breach due to regulatory and legal fees, further impacting an organization’s financial health.

Data breaches in the pharma industry can also lead to direr consequences than in many other sectors. For example, leaked intellectual properties and clinical trial data can lead to reputational damage and lost revenue that could take years to remedy.

Top Pharma Research Data Security Issues

Here are the key cybersecurity challenges faced by pharma companies:

Supply Chain Attacks: Pharma research requires collaboration among various parties, such as research institutions, suppliers, contractors, and partners. The complex ecosystem creates a large attack surface threat actors can exploit. For example, they can infiltrate your network via a vendor with a less secure system. Without complete visibility into their environment, many organizations are left in the dark until it’s too late.

Ransomware Attacks: Due to the need to access critical information in their research, pharma companies are prime targets for ransomware attacks. Especially in companies with lax access controls, hackers can infect just one employee’s device with malware to infiltrate the entire network and lock down access to data for the whole company.

Phishing Scams: Threat actors can use social engineering techniques to trick employees, partners, and researchers into giving up their credentials to access the company’s network and exfiltrate data. Again, an organization without proper access control makes it much easier for hackers to move laterally across its systems.

Emerging Technologies: New platforms, cloud technologies, and Internet of Things (IoT) devices are invaluable in accelerating research and development processes. But they also present inherent cybersecurity risks because of the expansive environment and numerous endpoints. If companies spread their data on multiple platforms without mapping their inventory, they could leave sensitive data out in the open.

Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A): The pharmaceutical industry saw 182 M&A deals in Q2 2022. When two companies merge, their IT infrastructures must work seamlessly with each other, including their cybersecurity protocols and monitoring systems. Mapping all the data to maintain visibility and assessing vulnerabilities can be challenging, leaving the new entity at a higher risk of compromise.

How to Protect Pharma Research Data:

Here are some steps pharma companies can take to protect their research data:

1. Visualize Access Across Your Network Environment: You can’t protect what you can’t see. You must map your environment and all digital assets to connect the dots, identify blind spots, reveal inconsistencies, and interpret access control. You can then prioritize vulnerabilities based on access and eliminate gaps in your scanner coverage.
2. Deploy End-to-End Encryption for Data Sharing: Use a robust encryption solution to support data sharing within the organization and with third parties. This way, authorized personnel can use sensitive information without risking exposure. Choose a scalable, database-agnostic encryption technology that can be deployed in the cloud or on-premises to help protect data at rest, in transit, and in use.
3. Enforce a Zero-Trust Policy and Least-Privilege Access: Least-privilege access is a vital component of a zero-trust framework that continuously authenticates a user’s identity to allow access to protected information. Access control is granted based on the principle that end users should see no more than the data they need to do their job. This approach can help minimize damage even if an employee’s account is compromised and limit a hacker’s lateral movement within your network.
4. Implement a Comprehensive Incident Response Plan: It’s not a matter of if but when your infrastructure will come under attack, and a well-designed incident response plan is key to containing the damage and minimizing loss. Having an up-to-date model of your network can help accelerate incident response by locating the compromised device and determining which digital assets hackers can reach from the entry point.

Protect Pharma Research Data with a Bird’s-Eye View of Your Network

The first step in strengthening your defense is to know where all your data is and who can access the information. The insights can help you identify vulnerabilities, take remediation actions, and implement continuous compliance monitoring. But mapping all the moving parts, including every connection to the internet, is easier said than done.

RedSeal Stratus gives you an in-depth visualization of the topography and hierarchy of your security infrastructure. It helps you identify critical assets inadvertently exposed to the internet and shows your multi-cloud inventory and connectivity, so you can quickly detect changes in the environment.

Get in touch to see how we can help you proactively improve your security posture and protect your pharma research data.