In the ordinary course of our business, we, and the third parties with whom we work, process proprietary, confidential and sensitive information, including personal data (such as health information), intellectual property, trade secrets, and proprietary business information owned or controlled by ourselves or other parties (collectively, "Sensitive Information").
We, our CROs and other contractors, consultants, third-party vendors, and third parties with whom we work depend on information technology, telecommunication systems and data processing for significant elements of our operations, including, for example, systems handling human resources, financial reporting and controls, regulatory compliance and other infrastructure operations. Cyberattacks, malicious internet-based activity, online and offline fraud, and other similar activities threaten the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of our Sensitive Information and information technology systems, and those of the third parties with whom we work. Such threats are prevalent and continue to rise, are increasingly difficult to detect, and come from a variety of sources, including traditional computer "hackers," threat actors, "hacktivists," organized criminal threat actors, personnel (such as through theft or misuse), sophisticated nation states, and nation-state-supported actors.
Some actors now engage and are expected to continue to engage in cyberattacks, including, without limitation, nation-state actors for geopolitical reasons and in conjunction with military conflicts and defense activities. During times of war and other major conflicts, we and the third parties with whom we work, may be vulnerable to a heightened risk of these attacks, including retaliatory cyberattacks, that could materially disrupt our systems and operations, supply chain, and ability to produce, sell and distribute our goods and services. For example, we have operations and third parties with whom we work to support our business located in regions experiencing (or expected to experience) geopolitical or other conflicts, including in the Middle East, where businesses have experienced an increase in cyberattacks since the start of the Israel-Hamas conflict.
We and the third parties with whom we work are subject to a variety of evolving threats, including, but not limited to, social engineering attacks (including through deep fakes, which may be increasingly more difficult to identify as fake, and phishing attacks), malicious code (such as viruses and worms), malware (including as a result of advanced persistent threat intrusions), denial-of-service attacks, credential stuffing attacks, credential harvesting, personnel misconduct or error, ransomware attacks, supply-chain attacks, software bugs, server malfunctions, software or hardware failures, loss of data or other information technology assets, adware, telecommunications failures, earthquakes, fires, floods, attacks enhanced or facilitated by generative artificial intelligence ("AI"), and other similar threats. It may be difficult and/or costly to detect, investigate, mitigate, contain, and remediate a security incident. Our efforts to do so may not be successful. Actions taken by us or the third parties with whom we work to detect, investigate, mitigate, contain, and remediate a security incident could result in outages, data losses, and disruptions of our business. Threat actors may also gain access to other networks and systems after a compromise of our networks and systems. For example, threat actors may use an initial compromise of one part of our environment to gain access to other parts of our environment, or leverage a compromise of our networks or systems to gain access to the networks or systems of third parties with whom we work, such as through phishing or supply chain attacks.
In particular, ransomware attacks are becoming increasingly prevalent and severe and can lead to significant interruptions, delays, or outages in our operations, disruption of clinical trials, loss of data (including data related to clinical trials), loss of income, significant extra expenses to restore data or systems, reputational loss and the diversion of funds. To alleviate the financial, operational and reputational impact of a ransomware attack, ransomware attack victims may prefer to make extortion payments, but if we were to be a victim of such an attack, we may be unwilling or unable to do so (including, for example, if applicable laws or regulations prohibit such payments). Similarly, supply chain attacks have increased in frequency and severity, and we cannot guarantee that third parties and infrastructure in our supply chain have not been compromised or that they do not contain exploitable defects or bugs that could result in a breach or disruption of our systems and networks or the systems or networks of third parties that support us.
Remote work has increased risks to our information technology systems and data, as more of our employees utilize network connections, computers and devices outside our premises or network, including working at home, while in transit and in public locations. Additionally, future or past business transactions (such as acquisitions or integrations) could expose us to additional cybersecurity risks and vulnerabilities, as our systems could be negatively affected by vulnerabilities present in acquired or integrated entities' systems and technologies. Furthermore, we may discover security issues that were not found during due diligence of such acquired or integrated entities, and it may be difficult to integrate companies into our information technology environment and security program.
We utilize third parties to operate critical business systems to process Sensitive Information in a variety of contexts, including, without limitation, cloud-based infrastructure, data center facilities, encryption and authentication technology, employee email, content delivery to customers, and other functions. Our ability to monitor these third parties' information security practices is limited, and these third parties may not have adequate information security measures in place. If our third-party service providers experience a security incident or other interruption, we could experience adverse consequences. While we may be entitled to damages if our third-party service providers fail to satisfy their privacy or security-related obligations to us, any award may be insufficient to cover our damages, or we may be unable to recover such award.
While we have implemented security measures designed to protect against security incidents, there can be no assurance that these measures will be effective. We take steps designed to detect and remediate vulnerabilities in our information systems (such as our hardware and/or software, including that of certain third parties with whom we work). However, we have not and may in the future not be able to detect and remediate all vulnerabilities (including on a timely basis) in our information technology systems, for instance because such threats and techniques used to exploit the vulnerability change frequently and are often sophisticated in nature. Despite our efforts to identify and address vulnerabilities, if any, in our information technology systems, our efforts may not be successful. Further, we may experience delays in developing and deploying remedial measures designed to address any such identified vulnerabilities. Therefore, such vulnerabilities could be exploited and result in a security incident, which may not be detected until after the incident has occurred.
Any of the previously identified or similar threats have in the past and may in the future cause a security incident or other interruption that has in the past and may in the future result in unauthorized, unlawful, or accidental acquisition, modification, destruction, loss, alteration, encryption, disclosure of, or access to our Sensitive Information or our information technology systems, or those of the third parties with whom we work. For example, in the normal course of business we have been the target of unsuccessful phishing attempts, and expect similar such attempts will continue in the future. A security incident or other interruption could disrupt our ability (and that of third parties with whom we work) to operate our business. Additionally, our Sensitive Information could be leaked, disclosed, or revealed as a result of or in connection with our employees', personnel's, or vendors' use of generative AI technologies.
We may expend significant resources or modify our business activities (including our clinical trial activities) to try to protect against security incidents. Certain data privacy and security obligations have required us to implement and maintain specific security measures or industry-standard or reasonable security measures to protect our information technology systems and Sensitive Information.
Additionally, applicable data privacy and security obligations and public company disclosure obligations may require us, or we may voluntarily choose, to notify relevant stakeholders, including affected individuals, regulators and investors, of certain security incidents, or to take other actions, such as providing credit monitoring and identity theft protection services. Most jurisdictions have enacted laws requiring companies to notify individuals, regulatory authorities, and others of security incidents involving certain types of data. In addition, our agreements with collaborators may require us to notify them in the event of a security incident. Such disclosures and related actions can be costly, and the disclosure or the failure to comply with such applicable requirements could lead to adverse consequences.
If we (or a third party with whom we work) experience a security incident or are perceived to have experienced a security incident, we may experience material adverse consequences including: government enforcement actions (for example, investigations, fines, penalties, audits, and inspections); additional reporting requirements and/or oversight; restrictions on processing Sensitive Information (including personal data); litigation (including class claims); indemnification obligations; negative publicity; reputational harm; monetary fund diversions; diversion of management attention; interruptions in our operations (including availability of data); financial loss; and other similar harms. For example, failures or significant downtime of our information technology or telecommunication systems or those used by our third-party service providers could cause significant interruptions in our operations and adversely impact the confidentiality, integrity and availability of Sensitive Information, including preventing us from conducting clinical trials, tests or research and development activities and preventing us from managing the administrative aspects of our business. In addition, the loss of clinical trial data from completed, ongoing or planned clinical trials could result in delays in our regulatory approval efforts and significantly increase our costs to recover or reproduce the data. To the extent that any disruption or security incident results in a loss of or damage to our data or applications, or inappropriate disclosure of confidential or proprietary information, we could incur liability and the further development of our product candidates could be delayed. If the information technology systems of our third-party vendors and other contractors become subject to disruptions or security incidents, we may have insufficient recourse against such third parties and may have to expend significant resources to mitigate the impact of such an event, and to develop and implement protections to prevent future events of this nature from occurring. In addition, whether a security incident is reportable to our investors may not be straightforward, may take considerable time to determine, and may be subject to change as the investigation of the incident progresses, including changes that may significantly alter any initial disclosure we provide. Moreover, experiencing a material security incident and any mandatory disclosures could lead to negative publicity, loss of investor, customer or partner confidence in the effectiveness of our cybersecurity measures, diversion of management's attention, governmental investigations, lawsuits, and the expenditure of significant capital and other resources.
Our contracts may not contain limitations of liability, and even where they do, there can be no assurance that limitations of liability in our contracts are sufficient to protect us from liabilities, damages, or claims related to our data privacy and security obligations. We cannot be sure that our insurance coverage will be adequate or sufficient to protect us from or to mitigate liabilities arising out of our privacy and security practices, that such coverage will continue to be available on commercially reasonable terms or at all, or that such coverage will pay future claims.
Furthermore, third parties may gather, collect, or infer sensitive data about us from public sources, data brokers, or other means that reveal competitively sensitive details about our organization and could be used to undermine our competitive advantage or market position.