The healthcare and pharma industry is one of the world's largest and fastest-growing industries. The larger the network, the more functional it becomes in catering quality medical services but at the same time, its data also becomes more vulnerable to cybercriminals. With its growth come challenges including data security and data management, as it comprises of delicate information that it generates or collects which needs to be secured hand-in-hand.

Today, the entire work culture has shifted from offline to remote working and digital platforms because of unprecedented times due to COVID-19 outbreak; this has led to an adverse effect on the dynamics of the industry. Therefore, in order to bring to light, the need of using enhanced technology and primarily the importance of security and privacy tools is required to safeguard the data. Apparently, India is the second-largest country that is marred by cyber-attacks and has seen a 37 per cent rise in cyber crimes in Q1 of 2020. Also, as per the reports, up to 91 per cent of total cyber attacks recorded begin with a phishing email to an unexpected victim which has been specifically affecting the healthcare industry.

Major challenges that healthcare and pharma Industry witnesses are:

- Managing users – creation and deletion – regularly due to the high attrition rate

- Making the data available on mobile for the sales team and MR team

- Data security on mobile

- Migration of data despite limited strength of IT team

- Archival of data as per healthcare industry guidelines (HIPAA)

Hence, to address the challenge, it becomes crucial to leverage an integrated email collaboration solution for seamless and secured communication. The Pharma Industry is ready for a big leap forward in this decade as technology and innovation have come into crucial focus as never before. Moreover, integrated collaborative tools have provided a great opportunity to enhance interactions between health care professionals-patients and simultaneously ensure sensitive information and business secrets are protected at all times. Looking into the current connectivity trends especially in the COVID times, video conferencing and collaboration technologies have become an inescapable part of the healthcare industry.

Practices that can be followed to manage security threats:

Establishing security frameworks within the organization - The industry can protect itself from threats by developing a security framework such as restricting data access, improving data recovery, and improving employee awareness. Strict protocols should be followed on the use of mobile devices within the organization. For the same, Mobile device management (MDM) can be leveraged to ensure that employees are not breaking significant policies.

Educating employees regarding cyber security is crucial - Healthcare and Pharma organizations should provide proper training to their employees of recognizing the signs of an attack such as email spoofing, Phishing, etc. When your workforce understands the importance of cyber security and knows the impact it can create on people’ lives, stimulates an environment in which security is appraised and addressed properly.

Software updates required - Cyber attackers frequently leverage loopholes in expired software as it becomes an unsecured access points for them. To fight against this, continuous software updates, two-factor authentication and password update policies are required. Healthcare organizations can reinforce this by setting up mechanized updates so that employees just have click to the automatic updates and follow the practice of changing the passwords simultaneously.

Secured collaboration is the way - Collaborative tools like - video conferencing, team messaging and business suites provide great opportunities for improving the communication experience between the industry and their stakeholders as modern communications and collaboration technologies deliver quality care and help in achieving seamless collaboration, improving operational efficiencies and enhancing patient care in an easy way.