Salesforce has recently announced that the IBM Digital Health Pass will be integrated into the Work.com platform. What are the cybersecurity implications of this move, and what should agencies be doing to prepare for events like this?

Salesforce’s new Work.com is a network of information technology, human resources, and business operations, and is a general application suite for business. The platform is a cloud-based suite used by employees, managers, and administrators alike to perform daily business functions in a remote environment.

Separately, IBM has been developing their Digital Health Pass as a new addition to their IBM Watson Works network. This platform helps organizations bring their members back to the workplace in a safe manner by verifying their health-related credentials. Built on IBM blockchain technology, organizations can pick and choose the criteria that would allow individuals to return to work.

The IBM Digital Health Pass has a massive database containing terabytes of its users’ health data. One of IBM’s main priorities is to maintain a high level of privacy for those using its massive health data network. That is why cybersecurity should be on the minds of all who use both or either of these digital infrastructures moving forward.

Cybersecurity for the Work.com network must be top-notch, as highly confidential information from many businesses are carried on the cloud. Data breaches from Work.com would be a serious issue, as employee information, customer data, banking information, as well as internal and external communications could be accessed by malicious hackers.

Now, especially with the integration of the Digital Health Pass into Work.com’s infrastructure, all organizations participating in either of these networks must be on high alert for cyberattacks. Since many organizations will now be connected to databases containing extremely sensitive data, no cyber risk is too small to be overlooked.

Organizations that utilize Work.com and/or the IBM Digital Health Pass need to lock down their network security in the wake of Work.com’s integration of the Digital Health Pass. The amount of sensitive information on this joint network would make a data breach devastating for millions of people around the world.

There have been many massive data breaches over the last couple of years. The 2012 hack of LinkedIn, 2014 hack of eBay, and 2019 hack of Canva prove that no matter how big the network is, cyberattacks are always a looming threat.