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Industries
Industrial Cybersecurity in the
Pharmaceuticals
Industry
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98% of pharmaceutical firms surveyed experienced at least one intrusion. And around 50% of the businesses surveyed experienced between three and five intrusions in the last year.

Due to regulatory constraints and validation requirements, digital transformation projects are often difficult to execute in the pharmaceuticals industry. But due to their many benefits, digitalization efforts are expanding to improve operations, requiring increased connectivity at multiple levels of operational technology (OT) systems.  

This results in heightened cybersecurity risk, which could adversely affect manufacturing operations if breached. Consider increased downtime, possible process anomalies, intellectual property theft, tampering with production records or systems, and in the worst-case defective products reaching consumers, requiring recalls.

Pharmaceutical companies are particularly consequential targets because of their products’ direct ties to human health and safety. This is the primary reason they must comply with stringent GMP regulations with respect to computer systems, cybersecurity, and especially data integrity.  

Dragos’s unique approach analyzes the entire OT spectrum—including systems for processing, quality control, enterprise resource planning, and other critical operations—to address these and other issues. Dragos also monitors support systems, such as all those supporting processing, such as HVAC, water, CIP/SIP, and others. 
Free Guide

Align Your Leadership and Implement a Successful Operational Technology (OT) Security Posture

As operational technology (OT) cybersecurity becomes a top priority from boardrooms to the manufacturing floor, CISOs and their teams must implement proven strategies to protect the business. Download this free guide to discover 5 critical controls you can implement to to ensure world-class OT cybersecurity.
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Visualize, Detect, and Respond to Cyber Threats Against Your Pharmaceutical Operations 

Research Scientist is Using a Tablet Computer in a Modern High-Tech Laboratory. Genetics and Pharmaceutical Studies and Researches.

Rest easy knowing your OT system infrastructure is in good hands 

The Dragos Platform utilizes passive monitoring to provide deep packet inspection, providing operations personnel with a complete picture of all connected OT equipment and network communications. This platform is designed to work with automation systems provided by leading vendors, including Emerson, Rockwell Automation, Siemens, and others. Your team will immediately benefit from in-depth visibility of assets and cyber threats in your environment. Playbooks are provided to guide your analysts step by step as they investigate potential incidents. 

EXPLORE THE DRAGOS PLATFORM

Prioritize and remediate OT cyber vulnerabilities 

Vulnerability management in the OT environment requires a different approach than with IT systems because production processes typically can’t be easily stopped and started. This is particularly true in the pharmaceuticals industry, where extremely expensive products can take weeks for batch processing, with any interruption resulting in possible multi-million-dollar costs. This sets the pharmaceuticals industry apart from other process industries, where continuous processes are the norm. Continuous processes can typically be restarted in hours or days following an interruption, which is not ideal. But this disruption pales in comparison to pharmaceutical production issues, where a multi-million-dollar batch near completion can be completely lost if interrupted. The Dragos Platform’s vulnerability management features provide the information needed to mitigate risk, minimize down time, and allocate cybersecurity resources where they are most needed. 

OT VULNERABILITY MANAGEMENT

Understand and mitigate OT cyber risk

Dragos’s professional cybersecurity services help security and operations teams understand cyber risk and prepare for and respond to a wide range of threats. These services are tailored to each client, no matter where they’re at in their cybersecurity journey. Dragos’s team works with your staff on assessments, threat hunting, penetration testing, tabletop exercises, incident response, training, and more—either onsite or remotely. 

DRAGOS PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
Quotation

Where Dragos differentiates from many [competitors] is in the ICS-focused expertise of its team, reflected in its intelligence-centric approach, where its deep and detailed knowledge of the specifics of the ICS threat landscape are borne out of experience.

451 Research

Known Activity Groups Targeting Pharmaceutical Operations

The pharmaceuticals sector is a prime target for adversaries seeking to exploit industrial control systems environments. An attack can happen at any point in OT systems. To help protect your infrastructure, Dragos currently tracks four activity groups, along with a range of ransomware adversaries specifically targeting the pharmaceutical industry. Dragos will continue to update this list as more information becomes available. 

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VANADINITE
since 2019
IT compromise and information gathering
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DYMALLOY
since 2016
Deep ICS environment information gathering, operator credentials, industrial process details
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WASSONITE
since 2018
IT compromise and information gathering

Defend Against Ransomware Threats

Ransomware can directly impact OT systems at critical points in the production process. And, even when ransomware attacks only the IT network, industrial processes can be impacted by forcing operations personnel to halt OT operation.

Events & Webinars

Event
19th Annual API Cybersecurity Conference for the Oil and Natural Gas Industry
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Woodlands Waterway Marriott, The Woodlands, Texas

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DISC 2024 Asia-Pacific
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SYDNEY, AUS

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Event
Rockwell Automation Fair 2024
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Anaheim, CA

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