Secure Email Solutions for the Biotechnology Industry

Email Sending Security and Biotechnology Industry Considerations

Biotechnology companies create massive quantities of data in the normal course of operations, making it imperative to safeguard and secure this information. When sending information by email, the best way to do this is through encryption. Experts in the field recommend that biotechnology companies make full use of new technologies available to ensure compliance with best practices in order to reduce risk factors in email communications.

Further, one of the most important assets of biotechnology companies is their Intellectual Property (IP). Intellectual Property rights are commercially valuable products of the human mind and include copyrightable works, trademarks, patentable inventions and trade secrets. Experts recommend safeguarding this resource with all efforts, including some of these methods:

1. Any Intellectual Property (IP) sent by email should be sent in a secure (encrypted) way
2. Identify the most important parts of your Intellectual Property which needs to have protection
3. Limit the copies of your IP and make sure it is encrypted at rest (such as on a laptop outside the organization)
4. Consider insider threat countermeasures, such as employee disgruntlement detection and mitigation. Use grievance and employee assistance programs.
5. Deploy role-based access privileges to your IP, and update them on a regular calendar basis.
6. Use accurate logging and version control policies to note changes and updates to your IP, as well as any suspected loss events.
7. Create an annual budget (small budget is okay) and set clear role responsibilities for the monitoring and maintenance of secure IP management within the company

The Net Atlantic Solution

Email is an extremely efficient and powerful communications tool, and it is often used in the development of IP. We recommend a solution which encrypts all outbound email in the background, automatically, with no extra user controls needed. Also, replies to that email should also be encrypted, automatically. The Net Atlantic Secure Message Suite provides just that level of protection for your company or organization.

Biotechnology companies face the challenges of properly managing their patent portfolios, competition from similar solutions, high research and development costs, making sure research and development efforts prove to be productive, regulatory compliance, and more. Managing your email communication with a secure solution can effectively help you address concerns, and is one less thing to be concerned with.

Regulatory legislation and industry organizations in biotechnology include:

BIO: Biotechnology Innovation Organization
PhRMA: Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America
AAM: Association for Accessible Medicines  (formerly GPhA: Generic Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association)
IFPMA: International Pharmaceutical Manufacters Association
USDA: U.S. Department of Agriculture
FDA: U.S. Food and Drug Administration
EPA: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
NIH: U.S. National Institute of Health
AIPLA: American Intellectual Property Law Association