Background: The Victorian Cancer Biobank (VCB) is a consortium operating with a hub-and-spoke model, comprising a Lead Agency (Cancer Council Victoria) with five cancer tissue banks, including the Eastern Health Tissue Bank (EHTB). The VCB recently developed a consortium-wide Business Continuity Management (BCM) policy adapting the contingency and risk framework of the Cancer Council Victoria to align with the established VCB governance structures and incorporate our COVID-19 pandemic response experiences.
In March 2021, the Eastern Health public health service responded to a cyber-threat incident that included suspension of all staff use of IT infrastructure (including at EHTB). The incident resulted in immediate and direct impacts to EHTB operations including suspension of research activity and reduced access to VCB biospecimen and data records, resulting in the instigation of the VCB business continuity plan for a 4-week period.
Method: During the cyber-threat response the EHTB diligently documented critical events. Upon return to routine operations, the VCB performed a retrospective case review of the EHTB incident response against established VCB BCM policy, including assessment of the theoretical plan against real events. Mitigations for identified consortium risks were also reviewed.
Results: Analysis of the EHTB incident response demonstrated EHTB initiated adequate escalation, stakeholder communication, and maintenance of critical services as per the VCB BCM plan. Reliance on VCB consortium partners for assistance was proven as a successful strategy. Lessons learned, such as identifying the need for improved communication action plans, were used to inform Policy improvement.
Discussion/Conclusion: BCM is now a focus of biobanks globally due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, limited biobanking BCM models are available, particularly for consortium biobanks or biobanks embedded within larger institutions or for response to cyber incidents. Analysis of VCB policy using a real incident as a case study demonstrates VCB BCM as a viable framework for biobanking.