In recent years, the pharmaceutical industry has experienced a significant increase in cyber attacks, with hackers looking to steal valuable data and intellectual property. They target large top 20 companies, service providers, smaller consultancies and micro companies that specialise in output that may be a small deliverable to larger projects. Any part of the ecosystem is a potential target. In response, many pharma companies are turning to Zero Trust security models to protect their critical assets.

Zero Trust is a security model that assumes all users, devices, and network traffic are untrusted and must be verified before granting access to any resources. This approach differs from traditional security models that rely on perimeter defences and assume that once a user is inside the network, they can be trusted. This is a large shift for many organisations especially since many in the industry do not even adhere to basic security principles like least privilege. The principle of least privilege means that only the minimum required access to resources is granted and no more. 

The Zero Trust model can be implemented through a combination of tools, such as multifactor authentication including conditional access, network segmentation, access controls administered on the resource and more. By using these tools, pharma companies can ensure that only authorized users and devices are accessing their networks and data. The model extends to systems that automatically access resources without interactive human intervention. 

One of the primary benefits of the Zero Trust model is that it allows pharma companies to protect their critical data and intellectual property from both internal and external threats. For example, if an employee's device is compromised, Zero Trust will prevent the attacker from accessing sensitive information, even if they have already gained access to the network.

Another advantage of the Zero Trust model is that it can help pharma companies meet regulatory compliance requirements. The pharmaceutical industry is heavily regulated, so companies must comply with numerous laws and regulations governing the storage, processing, and transmission of patient data. The Zero Trust model provides a framework for implementing security controls that can help pharma companies meet these requirements.

The Zero Trust model represents a new paradigm for cybersecurity in the pharmaceutical industry. In many organisations especially the micro ones with less than 50 people, security is not taken seriously enough. Many of these sized organisations, especially in the US, believe that they are too small for anyone to check how effective their security is, but this is not true when they have to work with other organisations that take security seriously. Also attackers look for weak links in the supply chain so these micro companies are often easy targets. By assuming that all users, devices, and network traffic are untrusted, pharma companies can implement robust security controls that protect their critical data and intellectual property. As the threat landscape continues to evolve, pharma companies must embrace new security models like Zero Trust to protect their business interests.

Kurt Haynes MSc CISSP CCSP CISM CDPSE