Biopharma companies are increasingly becoming targets of ransomware attacks, with the number of breaches rising during the COVID-19 pandemic. Japanese company Eisai recently announced that it was hit by a ransomware attack, joining other pharmaceutical companies like Sun Pharmaceuticals, Novartis and AstraZeneca. According to Constella Intelligence, for the top 20 pharma companies, the total number of data breaches rose from 1,930 in 2018 to 3,619 in 2020. The pace of successful ransomware attacks continues to rise this year compared to last year. The average cost of a data breach in this sector is $5 million.
The life sciences industry's "massive revenues and endless volumes of sensitive data" make it an ideal target for ransomware attacks according to Caroline Rivett, associate partner at professional services firm KPMG. Cyber criminals often demand ransoms both to de-encrypt critical files or systems their targets need to do business and to refrain from posting companies' sensitive data on the dark web for anyone to download. Companies can protect themselves by regularly monitoring logs and systems activity for suspicious activity; encrypting and securely storing sensitive data;