WithSecure (formerly F-Secure) and Plantvision cybersecurity into their processes and help customers with cybersecurity and compliance requirements, as well as preparing for NIS 2.
IT security company WithSecure and Plantvision entered into a partnership. The partnership is designed to help customers in the life sciences sector coordinate their work on cybersecurity and compliance in the pharmaceutical and medical technology industries. The need for F-Secure and Plantvision's combined expertise is particularly relevant in light of the European Commission's proposal to update the NIS Directive with both higher security requirements and a broader scope covering more industries (NIS 2), including Pharma Medtech.
"As IT threats to life science companies become more frequent and serious, and compliance requirements throughout the value chain become tougher, especially in connection with NIS 2, coordinated efforts are needed that focus on patient safety but also protect suppliers from major potential financial risks,"says Anna-Lena Mann, Business Area Manager at Plantvision. "Cybersecurity simply has to be built into customers' processes."
The first NIS Directive was adopted by the EU in 2016, and became national law in 2018. The aim is to create a high common level of security in critical network and information systems in the EU. Since then, much has happened in both cybersecurity and in critical industries, including Life Science, and in December 2020 the European Commission proposed to update the Directive. The updates will modernise the previous directive to better suit current and future cybersecurity needs, and once the new directive is adopted, industry will have 18 months to implement the changes.
"Life sciences is a broad field that encompasses both Pharma medical devices, and unfortunately we are seeing intensified IT attacks targeting companies in the industry," says Ingrid Waldheim at WithSecure. "Like other compliance requirements in the industry, cybersecurity is a complex area that is constantly evolving, which means that our customers also need to evolve in order to continuously comply with requirements and maintain resilience against cyber threats. Through our collaboration with Plantvision , we Plantvision offer coordinated expertise to help our customers with cybersecurity and compliance in the pharmaceutical and medical technology industries,"says Ingrid Waldheim at WithSecure.
Together with WithSecure, we have over 50 years of experience in helping Life Science companies align their processes with the cybersecurity regulatory framework, and we will soon be offering workshops, events and training on what NIS 2 means and how companies should relate to it.