5 Major Cybersecurity Challenges Pharma Faces in 2025

The pharmaceutical industry handles some of the world’s most sensitive data, including patient names, medical histories, prescriptions, and genetic information. Consequently, it is one of the most important and targeted industries for cyberattacks and data breaches because the obtained data can be sold and easily misused.

Over the years, the number of cybersecurity events in the pharma industry has significantly increased. In 2024, healthcare saw the highest number of data breaches compared with other sectors. Of the 14 largest-ever data breaches in the industry, 7 happened in the last 5 years (2020-2025). These statistics go a long way to show how, despite the integration of high-end security measures, the industry still remains vulnerable to security risks.

In this article, we address some of the common cybersecurity challenges faced in the pharma industry.

Common Cybersecurity Challenges in Pharma

Data breaches and patient data theft

Data breaches and thefts are among the most common cyberattack events because patient data can be used in a multitude of ways. Over the years, not only has the number of data breaches increased, but the severity of data breaches has also increased. For example, the 2015 Anthem Inc. data breach compromised the data of 78.8 million people, whereas the 2024 Change Healthcare Inc. data breach compromised the data of 190 million people. Furthermore, in 2021, 45.9 million records were compromised, but this record was smashed by the 168 million compromised records in 2023.

Over the years, the industry has made significant changes to solve this challenge. For example, the main causes of data breaches in the 2010s were theft of healthcare reports and poor protection of healthcare information. Companies have taken measures to solve these causes, for example, by shifting towards digital recordkeeping and adopting data encryption. However, data breaches continue to occur (and even increase) due to the development of new technologies. Therefore, we can only conclude that while companies will continue to adopt sophisticated technologies to protect data, hackers will also integrate similar tech to bypass security.

Ransomware attacks

Ransomware attacks typically have the same M.O.: A malicious software encrypts the organization’s files and demands a payment in exchange for decrypting them. These attacks are dangerous because they halt operations, leading to financial loss. There have been several high-profile ransomware incidents in history, including those on Merck & Co. (2017), Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories (2020), Novartis and Pfizer (2021), and Sun Pharma (2023).

According to reports, the average cost for a company to recover from a ransomware attack is $10.1 million, and costs may go as high as $67 million, including labor expenses, recovery, and lost income. Most ransomware attacks are initiated via phishing emails or malicious websites, but some may be triggered by hackers directly exploiting vulnerabilities in the existing systems. Consequently, employee knowledge and awareness play a huge role in preventing ransomware attacks for pharma companies.

IoT and connected devices

You’ve often heard: Internet of Things (IoT) will revolutionize cold-chain logistics. However, hackers can also exploit these technologies. IoT and connected devices in laboratories, manufacturing facilities, and storage facilities serve as entry points for hackers if they aren’t properly secured. IoT devices like sensors, smart locks, robots, and smart security have poor in-built security safeguards, but they are connected to the overall network. Hence, it is easy for hackers to enter the network via these unsecured devices.

According to a report, 82% of healthcare organizations have reported cyberattacks against their IoT and connected devices. Consequently, it is necessary to develop secure IoT hardware and software. Furthermore, it is essential to ensure the updating of these devices to keep them safe. All IoT devices connected to the organization’s network should be identified, secured, and classified based on risk.

Outdated systems

Rapid technological advancements often lead to legacy systems because organizations cannot replace existing systems whenever something new is developed. A HIMSS survey shows over 73% of organizations have legacy operating systems. However, while some security protocols are integrated, these legacy systems are not trained for new threats. Attempts at patching the difference, for example, by installing software, often create new loopholes, which make the organization an easy target.

The same HIMSS survey also reported that legacy systems are the third biggest risk to data in healthcare. Consequently, pharma companies must regularly update their hardware and software so that they are not target to cyberattacks.

Cloud security misconfiguration

Porting to the Cloud has been on the agenda of most pharma companies for quite a while now—and of course, it has been promoted. However, cloud adoption can also open cybersecurity challenges. For example, poor configurations of the Cloud network or improper accessibility handling can expose critical patient data. A similar incident was reported in 2020 by Pfizer, which experienced a Cloud leak of sensitive patient data from clinical trials due to a misconfigured Google Cloud database.

According to a report by the Thales Group, Cloud resources have become the biggest targets for cyberattacks, and the root causes are human error and misconfiguration (31%), known vulnerabilities (28%), and lack of multifactor authentication (17%). Therefore, simply porting to the Cloud is no longer enough; users must also understand and implement high-security measures.

So, now that we’ve discussed the problems, what are the solutions?

3 Solutions to Implement

Employee training is no longer optional.

If you’ve followed our article so far, you would have noted a common cause of cyberattacks: human error. Indeed, according to several reports made over several years, human error is the leading cause of >90% of cybersecurity breaches. According to a study by IBM, 19 out of 20 breaches would not have happened if human error were eliminated. It means cybersecurity training should be made mandatory for all employees.

Update security measures regularly.

Whether it is a threat from IoT and connected devices or legacy systems, both can be managed by updating security measures. This can be done by downloading and installing the latest versions of these softwares, which may have tighter security guidelines. Furthermore, the security risks from these devices should be checked and classified periodically.

Develop an incident response plan.

An incident response plan isn’t a method to mitigate cyberattacks, but can be used to handle the situation after a crisis. Often, acting at the right moment can prevent full-system compromise. Hence, organizations should identify vulnerabilities in existing systems and develop a plan (with one person or team responsible) to solve the situation.

Conclusion

Despite technological advancements, cybersecurity challenges persist in the pharmaceutical industry. Furthermore, even though pharma companies will continue integrating new security measures, they will remain a target because they possess precious patient data that can be easily misused.

In this article, we’ve addressed several common cybersecurity challenges for pharma companies. And, while we’ve provided several solutions to these challenges, we know our readers are much more experienced and knowledgeable. If we’ve missed any challenge or if you know a more feasible solution to overcome these challenges, let us know, and we’ll include it in the article!