The US government says healthcare cyberthreats account for 24.5% of all hacks, and among all this, the biotech sector may be especially vulnerable and weak. For companies that manufacture life-saving products such as insulin, a prime target for cyber attacks, this could be a matter of life and death. Digital attacks can come in many different forms and from many different sources: examples of such attacks include phishing, smishing, hijacking of remote desktop protocols, exploiting cloud and software vulnerabilities, “watering hole attacks”, and external physical devices. These issues saw especially high rates during the pandemic, with many biomedical companies being the targets of various different attacks. Luckily, in the face of the vulnerability of this industry, there are signs that the US government is preparing to respond to the threat. But, still, the biotech industry as a whole needs to raise awareness for this issue.
