Brad Gallagher, co-leader of Barclay Damon’s Health Care Controversies and Pharmacy Teams, was featured in the Specialty Pharmacy Continuum article “Pharmacies a Hot Target for Phishing, Vishing, and Other Cyberattacks,” which is based on his presentation about cybersecurity and data surveillance at the National Association of Specialty Pharmacy’s inSPire2026 meeting. Brad explained why specialty pharmacies are a prime target for cyberattacks: they hold patients’ personal, health care, and financial information in one place, and “it’s easy to take that information and use it for nefarious purposes.”
He described a specialty pharmacy that opens on a Monday morning only for the pharmacist to find themselves locked out of its systems. “Hopefully, you have a plan,” he said. “If you don’t, it’s going to be a lot more costly (to fix), involve a lot more stress, and you’ll wonder why you didn’t train an employee properly who clicked on a phishing email.”
Phishing is still the most common way in, and “vishing,” where a scammer calls and poses as a legitimate organization, is on the rise. Brad described a client who got a call from someone claiming to work for the state board of pharmacy and demanding immediate access to records. The client hung up and called counsel right away. “They were smart enough to know that the board of pharmacy in New York doesn’t call you randomly demanding information,” Brad said.
Brad also cautioned pharmacy leaders against putting off spending on defensive measures such as staff training. “Then you have a breach, and you’re wishing you did these things,” he said.
The session also covered vendor relationships, which are often a pharmacy’s biggest exposure. Before signing a contract, pharmacies should ask vendors where patient data is stored, how quickly breaches are reported, whether the vendor carries cyber liability insurance, and whether it will indemnify the pharmacy.
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