What You Need to Know About the Rise in Supply Chain Cyberattacks 

What You Need to Know About the Rise in Supply Chain Cyberattacks

Any cyber-attack can be dangerous but cyberattacks that target supply chain companies are particularly harmful. While these attacks include digital and non-digital services, allying with the company in question can make them less severe or mitigate their effects altogether.

Several profound supply chain hacks took place in 2021. These criminal acts were “one-to-many”, meaning that victims are beyond the initial target company.

Among the recent high-profile cases of supply chain attacks include:

• Colonial Pipeline: Ransomware attack that caused major gas pipelines to be shut down for a week, disrupting their operations and end-users.
• JBS: One of the largest suppliers of beef and pork products was hit with ransomware. As a result, their plants in at least three countries had to be shut down for several days.
• Kaseya: A software company that had its code infected with ransomware. This led to a quick spread to other IT businesses and approximately 1,500 small business customers that used its products.

Supply chain attacks are growing and are expected to continue this trajectory.

According to an article in Forbes, supply chain attacks rose by 42% during the first quarter of 2021. 97% of businesses were impacted by a breach in their supply chain, and 93% suffered a direct breach because of a supply chain security vulnerability.

If you are not fully prepared, you could incur damage from a virus or other security threat if you own a company or a vital service or product supplier goes offline for several days owing to a cyberattack.

As a vital part of any good business continuity and disaster recovery strategy, you must consider your supply chain’s vulnerability to attacks considering the current spate of security breaches.

How Can You Mitigate Your Risk of Losses Due to an Attack on Your Supply Chain?

Identify Your Supplier Risk

Knowing your vulnerability is an essential prerequisite for repairing any problems that may exist within the supply chain. So, you need to begin by addressing your cybersecurity risk should one of your suppliers get hit with ransomware or some other kind of vulnerability.

List all your vendors and suppliers, along with a brief description of each. This includes all your IT vendors, cloud services, your office stationery suppliers, and any raw material suppliers that you use.

Review the full list to identify their potential cybersecurity risks. Engage with your IT partner to review every vendor’s security measures. This can include sending them a survey to find out their current state of security measures and then to determine how much they may leave you at risk as one of their customers.

Create Minimum Security Requirements for Digital Vendors

Make a point of agreeing on a minimum level of data security that your vendors must establish as a baseline so that you can determine if they provide the services you require. One way to do this would be to use an existing privacy standard as a guide. For instance, if a vendor is GDPR compliant, then you know they adhere to several crucial cybersecurity standards their business and yours depend on.

Perform an IT Security Assessment to Learn Your Vulnerabilities

If a software application you use is found to have had a bug that was exploited by hackers to take control of a system, how much does that risk threaten your systems? Do you have an update strategy to ensure that all your software is up to date?

Have Backup Vendors

If you are relying on a sole supplier for any material that you are using for your production, you are at risk of downtime if a hacking attempt occurs. If you have two or more suppliers, you can easily fall on your backup plan when needed.

An example is the over-reliance on a single internet provider. Having a backup internet service provider can help you avoid downtime if there is a service disruption. This is a crucial safety net to ensure business continuity.

Ensure All Data in Cloud is Backed Up in a Third-Party Tool

Ensure that you have a continuous backup (in a separate location) of all the data you store in the cloud so that you will be protected in case of a ransomware attack or some other data loss or lost service incident.

Schedule a Supply Chain Security Assessment

Do not remain in the dark about your risk. Schedule a supply chain security assessment to pinpoint the areas you could be endangered in the event of a cyberattack on a supplier. Speak to us on how to get started.