Is cloud-based LIMS less secure than keeping data on our own servers?

For most testing and calibration laboratories, the honest answer is no. On-premise servers maintained by organisations whose core competency is laboratory work — not IT security — are typically less secure than cloud infrastructure operated by dedicated providers. Cloud infrastructure runs on purpose-built platforms with full-time security teams, automated patching, and infrastructure that individual organisations cannot replicate internally. The meaningful security question is not 'cloud vs on-premise' in the abstract, but 'how well is each environment actually managed?'

Can ransomware attack our lab data if it is stored in the cloud?

Ransomware works by encrypting files that are accessible from the infected machine. If your LIMS data is stored on a cloud server rather than on your local network, ransomware running on a workstation cannot reach it — because the data is not accessible as a local file path. Your lab records remain intact even if every local machine is encrypted. The attacker may still lock your local computers, but your test history, certificates, and calibration records are unaffected.

What happens to our lab data if we cancel our cloud LIMS subscription?

This is one of the most important questions to ask any cloud LIMS vendor before signing. A responsible provider will give you a clear data export process — ideally in a standard format (CSV, PDF, or similar) — so that your records remain yours regardless of the commercial relationship. Ask specifically: what formats can we export in, how long after cancellation is export available, and is there any cost to export. If a vendor cannot give clear answers to these questions, that is itself a meaningful signal.

Do we still need our own IT security measures if we use cloud LIMS?

Yes. Cloud LIMS removes the server and database from your network, but it does not remove the need for good security practices on your side. The most common remaining risk is credential theft — an attacker obtaining a legitimate username and password through phishing or a data breach at another service where the same password was reused. Enabling multi-factor authentication, enforcing unique passwords for each user, and conducting periodic access reviews (removing access for staff who have left) are the practical controls that remain your responsibility.

Where is our lab data stored with a cloud LIMS, and does it matter?

Data residency matters for some organisations and is largely irrelevant for others. Australian laboratories with no specific regulatory data-residency requirements can store data in any jurisdiction without issue. Organisations subject to specific regulations — certain government-contracted work, health-related testing, or requirements from specific accreditation bodies — should verify that their cloud provider can confirm the region where data is stored. For OMS customers, ask your account contact for confirmation of data storage region.

Cloud LIMS & Lab Cybersecurity: Reducing Your Exposure

Testing and calibration laboratories invest enormous effort in becoming and staying accredited. ISO/IEC 17025, NATA, NABL — the work is in the science, the procedures, the personnel. Cybersecurity is rarely what a lab director thinks about on a Tuesday morning.

But if your LIMS or lab management software runs on a server in your building — or even on a VM hosted by your IT department — you are already in the IT security business. You may just not have noticed yet.

This article explains exactly what security exposure comes with on-premise lab software, what genuinely changes when you move to a cloud-based system, and what risks remain regardless of where your software runs.

The Security Burden Hidden in On-Premise LIMS

When a lab installs traditional on-premise LIMS, a number of security responsibilities transfer to that lab — often without anyone explicitly agreeing to take them on.

A database server sitting on your network

On-premise LIMS typically runs a database server — SQL Server, Oracle, or similar — that lives somewhere on your local network. That server is a target. Database servers require open network ports (SQL Server listens on port 1433 by default), regular security patching, and careful access controls. Each of these is an ongoing maintenance task. Each unpatched vulnerability is an open door.

For a lab without dedicated IT staff, "the database server" is often a Windows machine in a back room that nobody has touched in two years. That is a realistic description of most small-to-medium laboratory IT environments — and it is a serious security exposure.

Patch management falls to you

Software vulnerabilities are discovered constantly. For on-premise software, every patch to the operating system, the database engine, and the application itself is your responsibility to test, schedule, and apply. Miss a critical patch, and you may be running a system with a known, publicly documented vulnerability for months — or years.

Cloud-based software is patched by the provider, not the customer. Security updates are applied to the running infrastructure without requiring any action from the lab.

Remote access creates additional attack surface

Field technicians need to access lab records from client sites. With on-premise systems, this typically means VPN or Remote Desktop. Both are meaningful attack vectors. VPN vulnerabilities in widely used products from Ivanti, Fortinet, and Pulse Secure have made international headlines repeatedly — with healthcare, energy, and infrastructure organisations as the primary victims.

Every VPN endpoint and remote desktop session you add to support lab software access is an additional point of exposure.

Ransomware can reach locally stored data

Ransomware encrypts files that are reachable from the infected machine. If your LIMS database is on a server accessible from your local network, ransomware spreading through that network can encrypt it. Labs have lost years of test records, certificates, and calibration histories to ransomware attacks on exactly this basis.

What Moves Off Your Plate with Cloud LIMS

Switching to a cloud-based lab management system removes a specific set of risks from your environment entirely. Not reduces — removes.

No server on your network

There is no server to patch, no open database port to close, no hardware to replace when it fails. The entire application layer lives outside your network. An attacker who compromises your local network finds no lab database to steal or encrypt, because it isn't there.

Ransomware cannot reach your lab records

If ransomware encrypts every machine on your network, your cloud-hosted lab records are unaffected. The data is not accessible as a local file path. A ransomware attack becomes a workstation recovery problem — serious, but recoverable — rather than a loss of your entire test history and client certificate archive.

No software to install, no supply chain risk

Traditional software distributed as an executable installer is a supply chain risk. Compromised software packages have been used to deliver malware to thousands of organisations simultaneously (the SolarWinds attack in 2020 being the most widely reported example). With browser-based software, there is nothing to install. There is no installer package that could be tampered with.

No VPN required for this application

Field access to cloud LIMS requires a browser and an internet connection — no VPN, no Remote Desktop, no special network configuration. Removing VPN from the access equation removes VPN vulnerabilities from your attack surface, at least for your lab software.

Physical theft becomes a non-event for your data

A stolen laptop that was used to access cloud LIMS contains a browser and a session cookie, not a copy of your lab database. The attacker gets a login screen — which they can't bypass without credentials. With on-premise systems, a stolen laptop that had local database access may give direct access to records.

What "Hosted on AWS" Actually Means for Your Data

OMS runs on Amazon Web Services (AWS) infrastructure. AWS is used by banks, government agencies, and healthcare organisations globally — not because of marketing, but because the physical security, network resilience, and operational standards of hyperscale cloud infrastructure are beyond what most organisations can build and operate internally.

What AWS provides at the infrastructure level:

Physical security — AWS data centres have controlled access, 24/7 security personnel, and multiple physical security layers. The physical hardware your data runs on is in a facility you could not replicate.
Network security — AWS operates purpose-built network infrastructure with DDoS mitigation, traffic filtering, and network isolation between customers.
Data encrypted in transit — All data between your browser and OMS travels over HTTPS (TLS). This is enforced, not optional.
Infrastructure redundancy — AWS operates multiple geographically distributed data centres. Hardware failures do not mean data loss.

One important distinction: AWS's infrastructure security covers the physical and network layer. The application layer — how OMS handles authentication, access controls, data isolation between customers, and application-level security — is the responsibility of OMS as the software provider. Both layers matter. Ask any cloud software vendor about both.

The Residual Risks (and How to Address Them)

Switching to cloud LIMS does not eliminate all cybersecurity risk. It changes the risk profile. The risks that remain are real and worth taking seriously.

Credential theft

The most common way attackers gain access to cloud systems is by obtaining a valid username and password — through phishing, through a data breach at another service where the same password was reused, or through brute-force attacks on weak passwords.

The mitigations are straightforward:

Enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) — a stolen password alone is not enough to log in
Unique passwords for each system — a breach at one service should not unlock another
Periodic access reviews — remove access immediately for staff who leave; audit active accounts quarterly

Shared accounts

Sharing login credentials across multiple users is common in labs — "we all just use the lab account." This eliminates the ability to audit who did what and when, and means a single compromised credential gives access to all activity under that account. Individual named accounts per user are a basic control.

Browser security

Cloud software runs in a browser. Keeping Chrome updated, avoiding browser extensions from untrusted sources, and not using lab workstations for general browsing are practical controls that reduce the risk of browser-based attacks. These are not cloud-specific risks, but they are worth naming.

Questions to Ask Any Cloud LIMS Vendor

Before moving any lab data to a cloud-based system, ask these questions and expect clear answers:

Where is our data stored? — Which country, which cloud provider, which region. If data residency matters to your organisation or your accreditation body, this is non-negotiable to know.
Is data encrypted in transit? — The answer should be yes (HTTPS/TLS). If it isn't, that is disqualifying.
Who has access to our data? — Can the vendor's support staff access customer data? Under what circumstances and with what controls?
What is your process if there is a security incident? — How are customers notified? What is the timeline? Who is the contact?
What happens to our data if we cancel? — Can we export everything? In what format? For how long after cancellation?
Do you offer multi-factor authentication? — MFA should be available and ideally required, not optional.

A vendor who cannot answer these questions clearly is a vendor who has not thought carefully about these issues. That itself is an answer.

Moving to cloud LIMS reduces the attack surface your laboratory is responsible for managing. It does not remove the need to make security-conscious decisions when choosing a provider, or to maintain good practices in how you and your team use the system. The combination — purpose-built cloud infrastructure and sensible user practices — gives most labs a significantly more secure operating posture than they had with an on-premise server. For a deeper look at what cloud migration means operationally, see our guide on digital transformation for testing laboratories.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is cloud-based LIMS less secure than keeping data on our own servers?: For most testing and calibration laboratories, the honest answer is no. On-premise servers maintained by organisations whose core competency is laboratory work — not IT security — are typically less secure than cloud infrastructure operated by dedicated providers. Cloud infrastructure runs on purpose-built platforms with full-time security teams, automated patching, and infrastructure that individual organisations cannot replicate internally. The meaningful security question is not 'cloud vs on-premise' in the abstract, but 'how well is each environment actually managed?'
Can ransomware attack our lab data if it is stored in the cloud?: Ransomware works by encrypting files that are accessible from the infected machine. If your LIMS data is stored on a cloud server rather than on your local network, ransomware running on a workstation cannot reach it — because the data is not accessible as a local file path. Your lab records remain intact even if every local machine is encrypted. The attacker may still lock your local computers, but your test history, certificates, and calibration records are unaffected.
What happens to our lab data if we cancel our cloud LIMS subscription?: This is one of the most important questions to ask any cloud LIMS vendor before signing. A responsible provider will give you a clear data export process — ideally in a standard format (CSV, PDF, or similar) — so that your records remain yours regardless of the commercial relationship. Ask specifically: what formats can we export in, how long after cancellation is export available, and is there any cost to export. If a vendor cannot give clear answers to these questions, that is itself a meaningful signal.
Do we still need our own IT security measures if we use cloud LIMS?: Yes. Cloud LIMS removes the server and database from your network, but it does not remove the need for good security practices on your side. The most common remaining risk is credential theft — an attacker obtaining a legitimate username and password through phishing or a data breach at another service where the same password was reused. Enabling multi-factor authentication, enforcing unique passwords for each user, and conducting periodic access reviews (removing access for staff who have left) are the practical controls that remain your responsibility.
Where is our lab data stored with a cloud LIMS, and does it matter?: Data residency matters for some organisations and is largely irrelevant for others. Australian laboratories with no specific regulatory data-residency requirements can store data in any jurisdiction without issue. Organisations subject to specific regulations — certain government-contracted work, health-related testing, or requirements from specific accreditation bodies — should verify that their cloud provider can confirm the region where data is stored. For OMS customers, ask your account contact for confirmation of data storage region.

How Moving to Cloud LIMS Reduces Your Lab's Cybersecurity Exposure