Cybersecurity In Biotech: Why It's A Must For Every Company

In the first quarter of 2024, weekly cyberattacks against U.S. companies rose to an all-time high of 1,308 — a 28% increase from the last quarter of 2023. The healthcare industry is among the most highly affected, with companies falling victim to more than 1,605 cyberattacks every week.

In particular, biotech companies have become profitable hunting grounds for hackers because they hold valuable data, including:

• Intellectual property
• Patient information
• Personally identifiable information
• Protected health information
• Genomic data
• Confidential business data

A notable example is the ransomware attack against Enzo Biochem, a New York-based biosciences and diagnostic company, in April 2023. The data breach exposed the clinical test data of nearly 2.5 million people to an unnamed hacking group, forcing the company to disconnect its systems from the internet and hire cybersecurity experts to control the situation.