How to Mitigate Risk of Cyberattacks on Your Supply Chain

The recent LoanDepot and 23andme cyberattacks have again put in the spotlight the interconnectedness and fragility of modern businesses and their supply chains.

As supply chains rely on networks of manufacturers, logistics providers, and vendors, they face intensifying cybersecurity threats.

A new survey revealed that 91% of private and public-sector organizations in North America have experienced a software supply chain incident in the past 12 months.

Adversaries recognize the immense amount of sensitive data and potential for disruption accessible via compromised supply chain environments. Just a single vulnerability anywhere across extended operations provides an opportunity for infiltration.

High profile attacks leveraging supply chain partners as attack vectors demonstrate the consequences in revenue, reputation, customer trust and even human safety.

Protecting supply chains presents immense challenges given diverse control environments, regulations, partner relationships and legacy architectures to reconcile.

Nevertheless, businesses must make cybersecurity a priority all along the value chain to manage risks.

Following are five recommendations for consideration as organizations aim to strengthen cyber resilience:

Conduct Security Audits

You should conduct regular cybersecurity audits and vulnerability assessments of your own systems as well as those of key suppliers and vendors. Performing comprehensive evaluations of the current security posture across your supply chain partners will enable the identification of any weaknesses or gaps that could be taken advantage of by threat actors targeting the supply chain. Be sure to utilize automated scanning tools, review configurations and patches, and conduct penetration testing to simulate real attacks. Analyze the results to categorize risks and address high priority gaps.

Enable Multi-Factor Authentication

It is critical to implement multi-factor authentication for any system, application, or platform that grants access to sensitive supply chain data or supports key operations. Configuring access controls to require an additional verification factor beyond just usernames and passwords provides an extra layer of protection and makes it much harder for attackers to access accounts within the supply chain environment. Prioritize MFA for accounts with elevated privileges, remote access capabilities, and access to financial systems or customer data.

Keep Software Up To Date

Keeping all software, applications, services, and systems fully updated with the latest security patches is essential. Utilizing outdated operating systems or failing to patch known vulnerabilities in common software provides an opening for adversaries to infiltrate environments and gain access to critical supply chain infrastructure. Automating patches enable efficiency in maintenance. Establish processes to be notified of new threats, prioritize risks, and deploy patches across assets rapidly.

Also read: 7 Ways To Prevent a Supply Chain Attack

Educate Employees

Providing consistent and up-to-date cybersecurity awareness training to employees involved in procurement, logistics, integrations, and supplier relationships across the supply chain is impactful. Ensuring staff understand and can identify common threats like phishing, know proper password policies, and adhere to secure practices makes them a strong line of defense. Conduct simulated phishing exercises and keep security top of mind across the workforce.

Control Access

Controlling access to sensitive supply chain data and limiting functionality to only what is required aids security. Granting access to infrastructure and platforms only when entirely necessary after careful evaluation contains threats. Monitoring and auditing access to critical systems protects the integrity of the entire supply chain. Integrate user lifecycle processes with HR systems, limit standing access and privileged credentials, and log actions to high-value data.

Conclusion

No single solution is sufficient but combining prudent controls across suppliers, software, employees and data access serves to drastically improve resilience. Fostering dialogue to exchange best practices and threat intelligence across the supply chain also aids risk mitigation. Companies ignoring cyber safeguards do so at their peril in today’s complex threat landscape.