Cyber attacks pose the greatest technology-related risk within the life sciences industry, a poll of digital leaders in the sector shows.
And the findings suggest that industrial espionage is as much a motivation for these attacks as financial gain.
The report also identifies concerns about both the danger of accidentally losing or releasing data, and the risks involved in deploying A) and Cloud technologies.
NTT DATA UK&I polled 100 digital and data leaders within life sciences businesses.
More than a third (35 per cent) of respondents said that “very substantial” effort is required to keep the risk of “cyber-attack for espionage or data theft” at an acceptable level, with 31 per cent saying the same of “cyber-attack for extortion or financial theft”.
The risk named in third place on this metric is that of “breach of security due to flawed Cloud migration”, which requires very substantial effort for 26 per cent of respondents.
Phil Rust, technical Leader at NTT DATA UK&I, said: “The life sciences sector faces a heightened risk of espionage and data theft, which reflects the high value of research and trials data.
“In a sector where R&D costs represent a high proportion of investment, and the first organisation to register a new treatment or vaccine leads the market for the duration of the patent, this information often comprises an organisation’s greatest asset.
“Such data is also very attractive to state-backed cyber actors – who are often better organised and resourced than other cyber criminals, and thus present a greater threat.”
However, these cyber security fears are balanced by widespread optimism about the capabilities and maturity of digital and data technologies – particularly AI.
A third of respondents said that predictive AI presents “very substantial opportunities” to generate revenue and savings, while 34 per cent said the same of generative AI.
