BiosafetyBio espionage: New threat to U.S. economy
In January, DHS warned of an increased cyber attack threat by activists/hacktivists and extremist groups; these groups are known to target life sciences and biotech companies; life sciences sector, pharmaceutical sector, and biotech sector are areas where we should expect information security challenges to increase exponentially for the foreseeable future
Biotechnology is one of the fastest growing new sectors in the U.S. economy. Billions of dollars have been poured into biotech research and these investments will continue. The product of biotech research is information that is turned into products, treatments, and insights that drive value and revenues.
Security experts estimate that theft of intellectual property from U.S. companies exceeds $200 billion a year. The figure could be significantly higher, though, since most organization do not publicly disclose security breaches that result in the theft of research data or other sensitive information. “A comprehensive data breach analysis and report, based on a four-year history of data breaches in the U.S., suggests that incidents may be under-reported by a factor of 100 times,” Coleman writes.
One recent report stated that more than half the companies analyzed did not have appropriate internal and external controls and the required policies in place to stop employees, contractors or partners from taking intellectual property and trade secrets. In January of 2008 an unclassified paper written by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence stated that foreign competitors and everyday criminals are stealing trade secrets from American pharmaceutical and biotech companies. “Strong protection for intellectual property assets is as essential in biotech as it is the most leading-edge scientific endeavor today,” Coleman writes.
In January, DHS warned of an increased cyber attack threat by activists/hacktivists and extremist groups. These groups are known to target life sciences and biotech companies. Life sciences sector, pharmaceutical sector and biotech sector are areas we expect information security challenges to increase exponentially for the foreseeable future. How secure is your biotech research and intellectual property?
FACT: The global biotech market generated total revenue of $171.8 billion in 2007, representing a compound annual growth rate of 10.7 percent for the four-year period studied.
FACT: The top 10 global biotechnology companies recorded revenues of $56.7 billion during 2008, an increase of 12.6 percent over fiscal year 2007.
FACT: In 2008, President George W. Bush signed a bill aimed at strengthening the protection of intellectual property.
FACT: The biological technician occupation is expected to grow by 28.2 percent between 2004 and 2014.
FACT: The biotech market is expected to grow to nearly $300 billion by the end of 2012.
