Clinical trials are a crucial step in developing new life sciences products such as drugs and medical devices. All tests – whether with large or small groups of people – require medical and personal information from patients upfront, and then proceed to collect data throughout the process. Ultimately, research companies are responsible for large sets of sensitive data and securing that information should be a top priority.

We recently discussed data security requirements for federal contractors and now we are doing a deeper dive into one of the trickier compliance factors: reporting cyber incidents.

Federal contractors are private entities that fulfill governmental needs. As such, they are trusted with sensitive, private federal information which makes them obvious targets for cyber attacks. The government has recently ramped up data security requirements for federal contractors, demanding more software, hardware and accountability from them.