Why UK Healthcare & Pharma Firms Face Growing Cyber Risks

The UK healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors face increasing cyber threats due to the high value of intellectual property and the complex supply chains they operate within.

With research and development investments worth hundreds of billions annually, these critical industries present attractive targets for cybercriminals.

In addition, their reliance on numerous third-party organisations spanning multiple jurisdictions, expands the potential attack surface. This makes healthcare and pharma organisations particularly vulnerable to data breaches and operational disruptions.

According to research from BlueVoyant, 44% of the UK’s healthcare and pharma companies report lacking the visibility to detect cyber issues occurring within their third parties. 

Leigh Glasper, Director, Cyber Advisory at BlueVoyant explored this research in more detail in a recent article, suggesting how healthcare companies should refine their strategic focus in supply chain cybersecurity.

Rising cyber budgets but persistent security gaps

The growing complexity of supply chains presents a major challenge in managing cyber risk, Leigh explains. 

Healthcare and pharmaceutical companies depend on vendors, suppliers and partners for business continuity, leading to increased exposure to cyber threats. 

As these organisations adopt digital tools and interconnected systems, new attack vectors emerge, intensifying the security risks they face.

BlueVoyant’s Supply Chain Defence report highlights that 98% of UK healthcare and pharmaceutical companies have been negatively affected by cyber incidents originating from third parties. 

Despite this, investment in cybersecurity is increasing, with 96% of firms reporting higher budgets for third-party cyber risk management over the past year. However, these budget increases have yet to translate into a significant reduction in security breaches, raising concerns about the effectiveness of current cyber defence strategies.

As a result, Leigh suggests decision-makers must assess why additional investment is not yielding better security outcomes and prioritise improving visibility and risk management across their supply chains.

Limited supply chain visibility exposes weaknesses

“For organisations in healthcare and pharmaceuticals, strengthening their third-party cyber security posture first depends on identifying the source of cyber security weaknesses within their supply chain ecosystems,” says Leigh. 

“With 96% of UK healthcare and pharmaceutical respondents stating they maintain supply chains with anything from 501 to 50,000 suppliers, visibility is key.”

According to BlueVoyant, 44% of healthcare and pharma organisations in the UK admit they lack the ability to detect cyber incidents affecting their third-party partners. 

This lack of oversight is the most severe among all sectors surveyed, Leigh explains, raising concerns about the ability of healthcare and pharmaceutical firms to respond to cyber threats in real time.

One contributing factor may be the lack of prioritisation. Around 30% of decision-makers in these industries do not consider third-party cybersecurity a business priority, leaving them exposed to potential attacks. 

“Decision makers should make supply chain cyber defence management an immediate strategic priority and proactively manage risk across their entire supply chain,” notes Leigh. 

“Most respondents (66%) state they only regularly monitor between 501-1,000 suppliers – a small percentage of the potential maximum size of their supply chain ecosystems.”

Moreover, 68% either depend on third parties to maintain their security standards or only inform suppliers of issues, relying on them to resolve vulnerabilities. 

The need for a unified cybersecurity strategy

A fragmented approach to cybersecurity further exacerbates these risks. The methods used to monitor supplier security vary significantly across the sector. 

While 32% of organisations assess all third parties, another 32% only monitor critical suppliers and 22% do not track their suppliers' security posture at all. This inconsistency highlights a lack of standardised cyber risk management practices, leaving gaps that threat actors can exploit.

To address these challenges, Leigh suggests that organisations must refine their cybersecurity frameworks, improve risk assessments and establish more robust monitoring processes. 

“It’s clear that many UK pharmaceutical and healthcare businesses urgently need to refine their strategic focus and cohesion when it comes to supply chain cybersecurity,” he says. 

“This means increasing the strength, breadth, depth, frequency and thoroughness of risk assessments, monitoring and reporting throughout their supply chains.

“For UK pharmaceutical and healthcare organisations, making supply chain cyber defence a strategic priority is going to be key – not only to the intrinsic security of the sector, but its overall standing, sustainability and profitability.”

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