CyberCore recently highlighted the ways organizations can mitigate supply chain risk, which has significantly increased with the COVID-19 pandemic. The federal government has significantly relied on global sourcing and manufacturing of critical infrastructure products, which has resulted in supply chain threats, including counterfeit products, hacks, trade wars and supply disruption.
“It is critical to vet your vendors and third-party suppliers to reduce the risk of threats internal to the supply chain,” recommends Dr. William Von Hagel, Jr., CyberCore’s vice president of Solutions and Marketing.
CyberCore reported that a supply chain can incorporate hundreds of vendors and business partners from dozens of countries. The data flow within the supply chain has contributed to sharing of confidential information with suppliers and third parties, which has exposed organizations to security risks and data breaches.
These threats have led to the increase of data loss and compromise. The company reported that unprotected supply chains face a rising number of threats, such as theft of proprietary information, attacks on critical infrastructure and purchasing counterfeit, defective or grey market medical products.
CyberCore noted that traditional supply chain security measures have focused on protecting supply chains from outside threats. Because of this, organizations could be exposed to other threat vectors. The company also reported that poor process management could affect response and delivery times, leading to vulnerabilities in the supply chain.
To keep organizations safe and competitive, CyberCore has recommended a multilayered security approach to ensure a secure and well-managed supply chain. Additionally, the company reported that a comprehensive risk assessment is critical to ensure that potential threats to the supply chain are discovered in advance and avoided.
