Guarding the Future of Science: Cybersecurity in Biomedical Research

Tyler Ward
October 15, 2025
5 minutes read

Biomedical research is about pushing the boundaries of human knowledge, today those breakthroughs rely as much on digital infrastructure as they do laboratory innovation. Data sets that once lived in secured file rooms now exist in interconnected platforms, shared across collaborators, cloud environments, and connected devices. While this has accelerated discovery, it has also made the biomedical sector a lucrative target for cybercriminals. Intellectual property, sensitive patient data, and the ability to disrupt operations all make research organizations an attractive prize.

Escalating Cyber Risks in Biomedical Fields

Over the past year, the scale of this threat has become clear. In August 2025, research firm Inotiv was hit by a ransomware attack that disrupted core operations and allegedly exposed more than 160,000 files. The Qilin ransomware group claimed responsibility, underscoring how organized cybercriminals now target research institutions with the same vigor once reserved for financial or retail industries. Similarly, the National Institutes of Health was among several federal agencies affected by an attack exploiting vulnerabilities in Microsoft SharePoint, leading to system outages and unauthorized access. These incidents illustrate how private-sector research firms and publicly funded health institutions are both high value targets.

Compounding the risk is the rapid expansion of the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT). Connected lab equipment, smart sensors, and wearable devices are now standard tools in biomedical research, but each device represents a potential entry point for attackers. Security researchers have documented vulnerabilities in IoMT environments ranging from unencrypted data flows to weak device authentication. Encouragingly, advances in machine learning are offering new defensive strategies: recent models have achieved more than 99% accuracy in detecting malicious traffic in IoMT networks. Still, companies cannot rely solely on academic research; they must translate these findings into practical safeguards.

Strengthening Oversight: From Policy to Practice

Recognizing the urgency of these risks, regulators are stepping in. The Department of Health and Human Services recently launched an initiative, backed by more than $50 million, to automate vulnerability detection and patching across healthcare and research systems. At the same time, proposed updates to the HIPAA Security Rule call for mandatory multi-factor authentication, improved encryption standards, comprehensive security-minded inventories, and stronger oversight of third-party vendors. For biomedical organizations, this signals a future where compliance expectations will continue to rise in lockstep with threat levels.

Yet compliance alone is not enough. To truly protect intellectual property and safeguard trust, biomedical research companies need to mature their security architecture in ways that are proactive, layered, and adaptable. A few priorities stand out:

1. Zero Trust as a Guiding Principle.

Traditional perimeter-based security is insufficient in an era of remote work, cloud platforms, and global collaboration. A Zero Trust architecture where every user, device, and application must continuously validate its legitimacy helps ensure that even if attackers breach one layer, they cannot move laterally across systems.

2. Modern Identity and Access Management.

Stolen credentials remain the leading cause of all data breaches. Companies must go beyond simple password policies to implement robust multi-factor authentication, conditional access rules, and role-based access controls. Privileged accounts should be tightly monitored, with automated alerts for unusual activity.

3. Securing the Supply Chain.

Incidents like the MOVEit file transfer breach and more recently the Github attacks have demonstrated how vulnerabilities in third-party tools can cascade into research operations. Vendor risk management, once treated as a compliance checkbox, must become a core part of security strategy. This means conducting regular security assessments of partners, requiring adherence to industry frameworks, and monitoring software dependencies for hidden risks.

4. Building Resilience Through Backups and Recovery.

Ransomware will remain a persistent threat. Biomedical firms should ensure that backups are encrypted, tested regularly, and segmented from production systems. Just as importantly, incident response playbooks must include clear recovery timelines to minimize disruption to ongoing research.

5. Culture and Training.

Technology alone cannot solve the problem. Employees themselves are often the first line of defense, and attackers know it. Increasingly, cybercriminals begin by compromising a staff member’s personal email, cloud storage, or personal device, then use that foothold to launch targeted attacks against the organization. Companies must emphasize in their training that safeguarding personal accounts and devices is not just a matter of individual privacy, directly protecting the business. Practical steps include requiring strong, unique passwords on personal logins, enabling multi-factor authentication on email, banking, social media accounts, and cloud services, keeping home devices patched, and avoiding the reuse of corporate credentials outside the workplace. By helping staff understand that their digital lives are interconnected, companies can reduce the risk that a personal compromise becomes a business breach.

Building a Proactive Cybersecurity Culture

These measures are not just theoretical. Many forward-looking biomedical firms are already investing in cyber ranges to simulate attacks, adopting continuous monitoring with AI-driven analytics, and embedding cybersecurity requirements into research grant proposals. The result is a security posture that does more than react to crises, it builds trust with partners, regulators, and patients.

Cybersecurity is now inseparable from the mission of biomedical research. The discoveries that lead to new therapies, vaccines, and diagnostics depend on the integrity of the systems that support them. By embracing a modern, layered security strategy, grounded in Zero Trust, strengthened by automation, and reinforced by culture, biomedical research companies can safeguard both their intellectual property and their role in advancing human health.

The breakthroughs of tomorrow will only be possible if the infrastructure supporting them remains resilient, trustworthy, and secure. For the biomedical industry, protecting science is now as critical as pursuing it.