Hack Attack: Biopharma Cyber Chiefs Fight Back

The threat of cyberattacks on biopharma’s extensive information assets is moving to the top of the list of business risks confronting senior C-suite management. In Vivo’s Roundtable panel of leading biopharma CISOs reviews what to do and what it will take to convince others in senior management to buy into a challenge that still remains largely below the surface.

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As an information-rich industry, biopharma faces a growing threat to the integrity of the data it holds on patients, products and research. The threat stems from a disruptive new wave of tech-inspired cyberattacks originating from unfriendly governments; organized crime syndicates; opportunistic, networked groups and individuals, sometimes from within the company itself; and anti-business “hacktivists” with political or policy grievances. Last month’s WannaCry ransomed malware attack on major businesses and public institutions in 150 countries – including the UK National Health Service – demonstrates the growing technological sophistication and geographic reach of this emerging, still murky community of cyber rogues. (Also see "WannaCry Cybersecurity Alert Shows Medtech Software Must Look Beyond Quick Fixes" - In Vivo, 18 May, 2017.)

WannaCry and other, less publicized breaches of industry data defenses have focused attention on a relatively new member of the biopharma C-suite: the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO). Long a...

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