In India, only 5 to 10% of pharma companies have guaranteed cybersecurity, said Sai Krishna, chairperson of Global Cyber Security Forum. The forum, in association with Kenes Exhibitions, Israel, in support with Telangana government and Consulate General of Israel, is co-hosting a two-day Global Cyber Security conference in Hyderabad.

Sai Krishna stated that cyber-attack can have a huge impact on pharma companies with zero or no cybersecurity, mainly on small and medium-size units. He further said that observing Hyderabad pharma hub, they are hosting an expert panel on data privacy and security to talk about Pharma 4.0, which is for over 600 plus pharma companies in Hyderabad. At present, there is no policy to audit its cyber and data security system.

According to him, recently the digital security practice for the industry has become serious. Due to lack of proper data security and companies using outdated software, hackers can steal data and sensitive information from the R&D database. Also, if a company is researching and has created a particular medicine composition for years, a hacker can easily steal the data or formula and sell it in black market.

He further added that many companies are still using the traditional machinery. The machinery responsible for manufacturing the drug is attached to computing systems. If the server of the manufacturing plant is hacked, the whole plant gets affected and there can be a malfunction in the critical functioning of the plant. The hacker can also change the critical drug composition, which can in turn become a huge threat. Existing systems don’t have security control and visibility in place to directly detect the attack and respond on a real-time basis.

Most of the companies find out about the hack or data breach only after six to eight months of the attack, according to the expert.