It’s impossible to avoid risk in today’s global supply chain when working with so many different vendors on a daily basis. More recent dangers, such as cyberattacks, have exposed many organizations’ weak points while threatening to disrupt global supply chains.
It’s never been more critical to conduct thorough risk assessments tailored to your business and activities. As a result of this, it will be easier for you and your supply chain partners to work safely and effectively to manage and mitigate potential risks to your business.
As a business, you must keep an eye on supply chain risk factors in order to keep your operations safe. We’ve put together a new guide to help you better understand the pressures on your supply chain.
Conduct Regular Assessments Of Risk
Conduct regular assessments of risk. Because supply chain environments are constantly changing, it is critical for organizations to have an up-to-date picture of their overall cyber risk profile.
For example, a major company’s security such as a medical plastic injection molding producer, and privacy are just some of the risks it needs to keep an eye on. Prioritize suppliers based on their importance and location, such as those in high-risk areas where disruptions are most likely to occur. Many undefined risks may exist in recently terminated or newly acquired suppliers.
Organize The List
In order to assess the impact of a cyber incident on you, you need to identify which suppliers are important to your business. Many consultants recommend categorizing vendors based on their level of importance, but this can be more difficult than it first appears to be.
Apart from cybersecurity, you should also list down the physical security aspects. Some of the top ones include using quality security cameras by a reputable ptz camera supplier. Also, integrating significant lighting all across the supply location is a must. You can order bright LED savers or bulk led light strips for this purpose.
Maintain An Eye On Your Partners’ Security Posture
A comprehensive list of all the software vendors in an organization’s internal ecosystem is a necessary step. This includes MSPs, software providers, and email providers. The companies’ processes to update their software tools and check for security flaws should be investigated by the companies and made public.
It’s not uncommon for attackers to gain access to your internal systems by exploiting a bug in the software of a third-party partner.
Rehearse Your Emergency Response Procedure
During times of turbulence, it’s important to be prepared for the possibility of a critical supplier being affected or needing to be isolated. Organize tabletop cybersecurity exercises for both internal employees and external vendors.
Establish protocols with supply chain partners for vulnerability and incident notification. Establish supply chain incident response roles, structures, and processes that work together.
Make Sensitive Data More Protected
Finding all points of entry to sensitive data is the first step. Every employee and vendor accessing your sensitive resources can be tracked using this. An organization’s attack surface grows in proportion to the number of privileged access roles that are in place. As a result, the number of accounts like this should be kept to a bare minimum.
Given the potential for supply chain attacks to start with vendors as their initial targets, it is imperative that vendor access be thoroughly examined. Indicate which third parties currently have access to your private information and at what level.
Keep An Eye On Your Suppliers’ Inventories At All Times
Any strategy for business resilience must start with a clear picture of a company’s exposure to its supply chain. Organizations need to be able to see what services are being outsourced (such as software design and development), what products are being built by suppliers (such as hardware and networking products), and where those suppliers are located.
Don’t Forget The Open Source
Your supply chain includes more than just the vendors you have contractually agreed to work with. Some open-source tools are now used by nearly every platform or infrastructure company. Because open-source projects are well-maintained and widely used, flaws and vulnerabilities are quickly and responsibly discovered and fixed. This is great news for anyone concerned about their data’s safety.
Using an older version will void your investment in our time and effort; a newer version is required. An older, deprecated version of a piece of open-source software is likely to have security holes.
Conclusion
In addition to these best practices, businesses may want to think about employing managed security service providers. Especially those who have the experience and understanding to constantly monitor networks for unusual behavior and perform maintenance tasks such as patching and vulnerability scanning. This would be in addition to the practices that are recommended here.
Even though the journey toward a secure organization is always more of a journey than a destination, the best practices that were previously mentioned can be an excellent place to begin. Implement them if you want to fortify your security posture and reduce the likelihood of supply chain assault.
