Why your Pharma IP could be at Risk in the Factory

In the relatively high-stakes world of pharmaceuticals, APIs and super specialty chemicals, your most valuable asset isn't always sitting in a vault; it's in your process. Your proprietary formulas, complex manufacturing procedures, and even your batch data. All of these collectively constitute your intellectual property (IP). Simply put this is the secret sauce that lies at the heart of your competitive advantage.

I am sure you have invested rather heavily in securing your IT networks. However, a critical and often overlooked vulnerability lies on the shop floor: your Operational Technology (OT) environment.

Cyber espionage and data theft isn't just about stealing emails and cultivating insiders. Sophisticated attackers, including state-sponsored groups and corporate rivals, are always actively targeting the industrial control systems (ICS) that run your reactors, vats, mixers, and production lines. This is because stealing a formula is easier, faster and cheaper than spending a decade and billions of dollars on R&D. The bad actors are targeting your OT to steal the "how," and for many companies, this remains a dangerous blind spot.

Worse still threat actors like ScatteredSpider may even wish to lock up your data for ransom.

Find out how you can align OT Security with NIST CSF and IEC 62443 here.

How data can be exfiltrated from an OT environment

OT environments were mostly "air-gapped" (or at least thought of air gapped) which means they were physically isolated from IT networks and the internet. This is no longer the case. The push for higher efficiency, automation, insights and data analytics (Industry 4.0) has connected the plant floor to the enterprise network. This has led to the creation of many pathways for attackers to travel from a compromised email account all the way to the SCADA and PLC systems controlling your most sensitive processes.

OT environments are uniquely vulnerable for several reasons:

• Legacy Systems: Many plants run on equipment that is decades old, designed long before industrial cybersecurity was a concern. These systems often lack basic security features like encryption and authentication.

• Lack of asset visibility: Unmonitored or unaccounted for assets can create many security challenges

• Uptime matters: Unlike in IT, you can't simply take a production line offline to apply a security patch. The overriding priority is continuous operation, leaving many systems unpatched and exposed.

• Insecure protocols: OT networks use specialized communication protocols (e.g., Modbus, Profinet) that were built for reliability, not security. They often transmit data in clear text and lack mechanisms to verify commands.

• The insider threat: A disgruntled employee or a careless contractor with network access can exfiltrate sensitive process information with alarming ease.

Actionable OT security strategies to secure crown jewels

Securing high-value IP from cyber espionage requires a security strategy that understands the unique nature of OT. It's not about applying IT solutions to the factory floor; it's about implementing purpose-built OT security controls.

Achieve full visibility

You cannot protect what you cannot see. The first step is to gain a complete and detailed inventory of every asset on your OT network—from PLCs and HMIs to historians and engineering workstations. This should be followed by deep packet inspection (DPI) of network traffic to understand communication patterns, identify unauthorized connections, and detect anomalous behavior that could signal an intrusion.

Implement robust network segmentation

A flat network is an attacker's playground. Network segmentation is the practice of dividing your network into smaller, isolated zones to limit an intruder's ability to move laterally. By creating strict conduits between your IT and OT networks and micro-segmenting critical production zones, you can contain a breach before it reaches your most sensitive assets. The Purdue Model provides a foundational framework for structuring these zones logically.

Adopt a Zero Trust security model

The old "trust but verify" model is obsolete. Zero Trust operates on the principle of "never trust, always verify." In an OT context, this means that no user or device is trusted by default, regardless of its location on the network. Every access request must be strictly authenticated and authorized. This is critical for controlling access to sensitive systems like recipe management servers and process historians, ensuring only the right people can access the right data at the right time.

Deploy OT-specific threat detection

Your IT security tools don't speak the language of the factory floor. You need a threat detection platform that understands industrial protocols and can identify tactics specific to ICS attacks. This includes monitoring for unauthorized changes to PLC logic, unusual process parameter modifications, or reconnaissance activity that signals an attacker is mapping your network. Check out Shieldworkz’ agentic AI-based OT security platform.  

Develop and drill a contextual OT Incident Response plan

When an incident occurs, time is critical. An OT-specific incident response (IR) plan is essential. This plan must be distinct from your IT IR plan, as OT incidents have unique safety, operational, and containment considerations. Regularly conduct tabletop exercises that simulate a cyber espionage event to ensure your team can respond quickly and effectively to isolate the threat and protect your IP.

Safeguard innovation for the future

In the pharmaceutical and chemical industries, innovation is your currency. Losing your proprietary manufacturing processes to a competitor can have devastating financial and reputational consequences. Protecting your intellectual property is no longer just an IT function; it requires a dedicated, proactive security posture that extends deep into your operational environment.

By gaining visibility, segmenting your networks, and adopting a Zero Trust mindset, you can build a resilient defense against cyber espionage and ensure that your most valuable secrets remain yours.

Book a free consultation to study your pharma OT environment now.

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