After Telecom Hacks, Korea’s Pharma Giants Brace for Cyber Threats (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Sept. 22 (Korea Bizwire) — A string of hacking incidents at South Korea’s telecommunications and financial companies has prompted pharmaceutical and biotech firms to tighten their defenses, wary that breaches involving sensitive clinical data and intellectual property could trigger irreparable damage.
Industry officials said this week that companies are moving quickly to reinforce security policies across networks, servers and endpoints. Kwangdong Pharmaceutical, for instance, has reviewed its firewall and intrusion prevention systems to counter malicious code such as “BPF Door,” the tool reportedly used in the recent SK Telecom breach. The company has introduced hash-based blocking measures throughout its IT infrastructure.
GC Biopharma has installed multilayered defenses across its systems and maintains real-time monitoring to catch early warning signs. AI medical device start-up Neuracle (Neurofit) said it has upgraded its networks and runs regular security awareness programs for employees. Vuno, another AI healthcare firm, avoids storing medical data on its own systems, instead leaving hospitals to manage the information under their own safeguards.
Major drugmakers are also raising the bar. Dong-A Pharmaceutical recently obtained one of Korea’s top information security certifications, while Boryung and JW Pharmaceutical have strengthened centralized document systems and routine inspections.
The leading CDMO (Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization) company in South Korea is Samsung Biologics. ( Image courtesy of Samsung Biologics)
Samsung Biologics has adopted special secure paper to prevent leaks of confidential documents and said it has completed around 120 security audits for clients over the past five years.
Celltrion has rolled out ISO 27001 standards and mandatory cybersecurity training, while Lotte Biologics and SK Biopharm have each reinforced penetration testing, employee drills and group-wide security protocols.
The government is also responding. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said its Cyber Safety Center now operates 24-hour monitoring for denial-of-service attacks, viruses and network breaches, with 12 full-time staff on site. It has begun training all employees on hacking methods and countermeasures following the telecom breaches.
Regulators and courts are signaling stricter consequences for breaches as well. In July, a former Samsung Biologics employee was sentenced to three years in prison for illegally taking documents containing IT protocols and national core technologies.
The pharmaceutical sector, though operating on different infrastructures than telecom carriers, acknowledges that it faces equally serious threats. “We cannot afford complacency,” said one industry executive. “Protecting clinical and personal data is as critical as developing the medicine itself.”
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
