Company: DARE
Filing Date: 2025-03-31
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001401914-25-000012
Chunk: 266

Company: Dare Bioscience, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-03-31
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1A
Chunk 266
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 measures and controls may not be successful in preventing further cyber-related crimes.

Despite implementing security measures, any of the information technology systems belonging to us or our collaborators and third-party service providers, including our CMOs and CROs for our clinical studies, and the sensitive and confidential information contained within them are vulnerable to damage or interruption from computer viruses and other malware, unauthorized access, including as a result of employee error (e.g., phishing or spoofing scams) or malfeasance, service interruptions, system malfunctions, natural disasters, terrorism, war, and telecommunication and electrical failure. We rely on third-party service providers and technologies for our data processing-related activities, including without limitation third-party providers of cloud-based infrastructure, encryption and authentication technology, employee email, and other functions. We rely on these third parties to implement effective security measures and identify and correct for any such failures, deficiencies or breaches. However, our ability to monitor these third parties' cybersecurity practices is limited, and these third parties may not have adequate security measures in place. In addition, we do not have our own information technology department or personnel and rely on third-party information technology consultants to assist our management in assessing, identifying and managing our cybersecurity risks. We do not control these third parties and they may fail to perform as expected. Moreover, the shift to remote working arrangements and the prevalent use of mobile devices that access sensitive or confidential information increases the risk of data security breaches. Technology security systems and other security measures in employees’ homes or other places they may work may not be as robust and more vulnerable to cybersecurity attacks. Any system failure, accident, security breach or data breach that causes interruptions in our own or in third-party collaborators’ or service providers’ operations could result in unauthorized, unlawful, or accidental acquisition, modification, destruction, loss, alteration, encryption, disclosure of, or access to our sensitive or confidential information, or that of our employees, collaborators, service providers and participants in our clinical studies. A security incident or other interruption could disrupt our ability (or that of third parties upon which we rely) to conduct our business operations and could divert significant resources to remedy or mitigate the damage caused. For example, if clinical or nonclinical study data is lost or becomes compromised, it could result in delays in our product development and regulatory approval efforts and significantly increase our costs due to additional time and resources necessary to recover and verify, or potentially reproduce, the data. In addition, a security breach or privacy violation that leads to disclosure of personally identifiable information or protected health information could