In late 2023, Okta – an identity management cloud system that lets businesses log into several apps at once – experienced a major software security breach. As Okta forms a core part of numerous enterprise tech stacks, this supply chain attack impacted companies globally, with upstream vendors that were using the software also experiencing issues.
With how integral software is to the global supply chain, any small cybersecurity attack can create an international problem. While Okta initially stated that less than 1% of customers were impacted by their security breach, they later increased this figure to a total of 100%. Beyond just creating major supply chain disruptions and security issues, Okta’s stock plummeted by over 10% following the news.
Considering the rising number of cyber threats and the increasing cost of cyber attacks, businesses must be more aware of their supply chain security than ever before. Supply chains have to create an impenetrable security posture in order to maintain their operations, enhance efficiency, and prevent disruptions.
Yet, as the threat becomes more complex, businesses must turn to solutions that can offer extensive visibility into the cyber threats in their supply chain—and help decrease their exposure to novel attack vectors.
Understanding the Cyber Threat Landscape in Supply Chains
The first step towards building a robust security posture for your supply chain is to better understand what active cyber threats look like and what measures you should be taking to protect yourself.
Let’s explore some of the common threats and supply chain vulnerability points in the modern supply chain.
Common Cyber Threats
Supply chain cyber threats are challenging to defend against due to the constantly evolving technology and attack vectors used by malicious actors. Luckily, for cybersecurity experts, there is a comprehensive list of common threats and defensive measures to use against them.
Businesses can consult the MITRE Att&ck Framework for a more expansive insight into the most common threats currently impacting supply chains. However, most of these attack vectors stem from the same three base categories:
- Malware: Malware is malicious software that infects a host device and then aims to breach into data stores and exfiltrate sensitive information. Malware could also provide hackers with a direct point of entry into a business system, allowing them to further impact the company’s supply chain and halt its operations.
- Ransomware: Ransomware is a form of malware that takes over a company’s servers and devices, rendering them unusable. Ransomware typically encrypts your company’s information, impairing its functionality.
- Phishing: Phishing is a cyber attack strategy where malicious actors attempt to trick employees into giving over their account details. Once an attacker has these details, they can log into a company account and begin downloading malware or extracting data.
Understanding these threats and how they can impact the supply chain is one of the first steps a business can take to improve its security posture and enhance its protective measures. Having a comprehensive system that defends against all three attack avenues should be top of mind for companies.
Equally, you must ensure that your suppliers and other connected entities have similar levels of protection to avoid upstream or downstream delays.
Vulnerability Points
The supply chain is vastly complex, with thousands of interconnected businesses working together to deliver a final product. Even in simple supply chains, the extent of technology, systems, and networks involved can be overwhelming.
Due to this extensive nexus of connections, every company has an abnormally large attack surface. An attack surface is the general scope of all connected points where a malicious actor could try to break into your systems. This could be as simple as an employee account or as complex as an open port on one of your networks.
Here are some common vulnerability points in the average supply chain:
- Third-Party vendors: When working with third-party vendors, a company needs to ensure that its security standards will prevent major breaches. If one of your suppliers experiences a security event, your business will also be impacted. With that in mind, effective supply chain security goes beyond just securing your own business and must involve supply chain security risk assessment and management.
- IoT devices: IoT devices notoriously have poor security. Although there is a minimum security standard for many IoT devices, governments are fairly lax about enforcing them, meaning that many IoT devices like sensors in trucks or factory monitors may have vulnerabilities. Hackers can target IoT devices to gain access to your system, leading to further damage.
- Cloud storage: Many companies use cloud storage to consolidate various data channels and overcome data silos. While cloud providers are normally fairly secure, security risks can arise when you submit your data to third-party companies.
- Employees: Humans are the cause of 95% of all data breaches across the globe. When you don’t teach your employees about the importance of effective cybersecurity, they may fall for phishing scams or download malware without realising it.
By better understanding potential vulnerabilities in the supply chain, businesses are better equipped to create defensive measures that keep them safe from common cyber threats.
Risk Assessment in Cybersecurity for Supply Chains
Cybersecurity begins with risk assessments. Identifying what software, connections, and partners you currently have will help you develop a roadmap for what you need to secure and what defences you could improve upon.
Solutions like Prewave offer real-time threat detection for your entire supply chain. With full visibility into the modern supply chain, Prewave can identify potential vulnerabilities in your cybersecurity and recommend steps to mitigate them.
Part of what makes real-time monitoring tools like Prewave so effective is that they respond to the continuous nature of the cyber threat. A new attack could materialise at any moment, making a constant approach to threat monitoring vital.
Strategic Cybersecurity Measures
Considering how disastrous even one cybersecurity event can be for the continuity and reputation of a business, organisations must endeavour to employ a comprehensive approach to cybersecurity.
Here are three leading strategies to implement better cybersecurity measures in your supply chain:
- Develop a cybersecurity framework: A cybersecurity framework is your company’s overall approach to cybersecurity. You should endeavour to have risk assessment policies and solutions in place, employ threat detection and response software, and integrate leading cybersecurity tools into your business.
- Implement best practices: Following supply chain security best practices will help to keep your business at the forefront of practical protection. Everything from introducing Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) and using access controls to regularly updating your software will form a vital part of your cybersecurity strategy.
- Training and awareness: Considering that the vast majority of breaches stem from human error, cyber security awareness training in your organisation is vital. Your employees and partners should understand the cyber threat, what common attack vectors look like, and how to respond to threat scenarios.
Cybersecurity is never a straight line. Building an effective security posture goes beyond just having the right technology; it encompasses an ongoing battle of education, updating your defences, and learning about new threats on the horizon.
By following the strategies outlined here, your business will build a strong foundation in cybersecurity, helping to keep your supply chain as secure as possible.
Leveraging Advanced Technologies for Security
One integral part of developing a secure posture is to enlist modern technology to improve your defences.
Here are several important cybersecurity technologies for supply chain security:
- Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning: Artificial intelligence tools are among the most innovative when it comes to enhancing cybersecurity defences. With AI and ML tools, security experts can create automated threat monitoring in their supply chain systems. Equally, AI can automate the vast majority of penetration testing experiments, helping to streamline the search for and identification of potential vulnerabilities in your supply chain.
- Blockchain for secure transactions: A pressing concern for businesses is the exfiltration or interception of sensitive data. By utilising blockchain technology, which provides a secure system for the storage and exchange of data, businesses can defend against the majority of interception threats. Blockchain technology also helps in other areas of the supply chain, like streamlining inventory management and shipment tracking.
- Integrated security platforms: An important part of effective cybersecurity in the supply chain is to ensure you are able to monitor your entire company system and identify threats as early as possible. By integrating security solutions that can manage threats in real-time into your wider supply chain systems, you’ll gain visibility into your supply chain and help create as effective a defence as possible.
By utilising new software that enhances a company’s security posture, businesses can continuously strive to create complex cybersecurity defences that protect them from cyber threats.
Prewave’s Impact on Supply Chain Cyber Defence
Prewave helps businesses to enhance visibility in their supply chains, providing a comprehensive overview of the risk profile of suppliers and an accessible method of consolidating cybersecurity information.
By employing Prewave, companies can reduce security risks caused by supply chain attacks, and achieve numerous benefits:
- Proactive risk detection: Prewave uses real-time monitoring to identify early-stage cyber threats in supply chains. By locating these threats before they begin to disrupt your supply chain, you can enable a swift and proactive defence response, leading to enhanced operations and full data protection.
- Actionable insights for strategic decisions: Prewave converts complex cybersecurity data into clear, actionable insights. Leveraging these insights allows your business to improve decision-making processes around supply chain cybersecurity defence and rapidly allocate resources for an effective threat response.
- Enhanced efficiency and cost reduction: Effective supply chain cyber risk management allows businesses to reduce costs while expediting cyber defence response strategies. Prewave enables businesses to increase risk management efficiency by up to 40x—leading to increased efficiency and cost savings.
- Customised solutions: Prewave has ample experience across numerous subsegments of the supply chain industry. With years of customer support and a wide range of industry partners, Prewave can offer tailored solutions to ensure optimal performance in any industry, from manufacturing to healthcare.
- Future-proof supply chains: Prewave is at the forefront of technological innovation when it comes to supply chain risk management systems. Prewave helps build resilient and future-ready supply chains, staying one step ahead of emerging cyber threats.
Prewave offers a range of cybersecurity risk assessment solutions to help enhance the security posture of a business. With Prewave, you can keep your business safe from cyber threats and ensure the continual movement of goods throughout the supply chain.
Final Thoughts: Enhance Supply Chain Cybersecurity With Prewave
A comprehensive security posture that defends against common cybersecurity threats and reduces the likelihood of compromise in your organisation is vital for the continuity of your supply chain. To ensure a comprehensive level of security, businesses need to develop proactive cybersecurity measures.
Prewave offers a range of tools and systems that businesses can leverage to transform their security posture, identify vulnerabilities, and reduce the likelihood of cyber attacks.
Build a secure and resilient supply chain by signing up for a demo with Prewave today, or download additional resources to learn more about integrating effective cybersecurity solutions.
