Does your business need a zero-trust approach to its supply chain cybersecurity? Reliance on technology makes the answer easy – it’s yes.
The evolution of supply chains over the years has massively been driven by technology. Businesses of all sizes are moving to the virtual space, some compelled by the changes in the last year. While organizations build cybersecurity fortresses for themselves, there are several susceptibilities at touchpoints with suppliers, manufacturers, global partners, and other service providers to consider. Threats are prowling around these parties, waiting to break security with the first occasion.
Supply chain attacks have been a concern for cybersecurity experts for many years, as the chain reaction generated by one mishap can put an entire network of providers at stake. And, according to ENISA, strong security protection is no longer enough for companies when attackers have already focused their attention on suppliers. This is also demonstrated by the cumulative impact of these attacks, such as downtime of the system, reputational damage, and monetary loss.
Attacks on supply chains are now projected to multiply by 4 in 2021 compared to 2020. This new trend stresses the need for the cybersecurity community and policymakers to act now. This means you can no longer simply trust that your seller is cyber secure – you need to verify it? But how?
The Zero-Trust Approach
Rather than assuming that a product or business you are dealing with is secure, a zero-trust approach requires verification for all assets, applications, and user accounts – the authentication for their access to your stem must be agreed upon. It’s a security framework you won’t regret applying.
The zero-trust approach will require all users, be those in or outside the company’s network, be authenticated, authorized, and unceasingly validated for security configuration and position before being given or keeping access to all data and applications. Zero Trust means that there is no traditional network advantage; the network can be in the cloud, local, or hybrid or a combination with resources anywhere as well as employees in any location.
Zero Trust is a way of securing infrastructure and data in today’s digital transformation. It particularly addresses the modern challenges of today’s organization, including securing hybrid cloud spaces, remote employees, and ransomware threats.
Your Retailer Might Pay Insufficient Attention to Cybersecurity
The retailer you deal with might overlook something in building its cybersecurity system or undervalue the importance of secure development of services and products. This may lead you to unknowingly install weak software or, in the case of an untrustworthy cloud service provider, expose your business to data leaks.
To reduce these risks you can take these actions:
Compliance
Check your vendor’s compliance with cybersecurity guidelines before accepting its services or signing a contract for software development. Remember to impose liability in the contract in case of security mishaps.
QA
When outsourcing software development, perform regular quality assurance, especially when updates are available.
Auditing
Hire independent experts to audit the security of the developed products and software.
Security Monitoring
Encourage solutions for ongoing security monitoring of the applications. In the case of a cloud service provider, you should also demand added control mechanisms such as monitoring of sources of entry and session, as well as auditing of sessions.
Your vendor may put too much faith in other parties.
In a layered system, your vendor may be collaborating with other third parties and relying on their resilience without verifying it. However, if one of these organizations does not have enough cybersecurity, it might become an access point into the whole supply chain.
A zero-trust strategy may assist in mitigating these risks by:
Access
Access to all resources must be secure and authenticated. Every time a user visits an applicant or cloud storage, reauthentication should be required. Unless the contrary is shown, any effort to enter the network is considered dangerous.
Using the least-privilege paradigm restricts each user’s network access to the bare minimum required to accomplish their duties.
Analyzing the history of events or logs in your applications and their origins and noting anomalies in special software. This can assist you in identifying the dangers in your system and the events that followed an attack.
A Criminal Posing as a Vendor Might Contact You
Supply chain assaults are the hacker’s new favorite weapon, which is no surprise. Because acquiring access to a company that sells software and services to many other businesses is a huge boon for these hacking organizations, who might acquire access to thousands of targets at once. Today’s cybercriminals are motivated by the possible cash rewards from these assaults.
Hackers may easily impersonate reputable service providers, so it’s only time until one of your workers gets a threatening email. Whether you like it or not, business accounts remain one of the most enticing targets for hackers, and phishing has become a common way for ransomware to propagate.
According to recent research, seven out of ten salespeople fall for such ruses. As a result, even complex software models may not be adequate to defend a business if employees let thieves access. This danger may be considerably reduced by raising awareness and requiring personnel to authenticate every incoming mail.
Conclusion
While technology has improved supply chains, it has also increased the number of touchpoints where hackers might get access and compromise your data. The zero-trust paradigm may significantly boost the resilience of any individual organization in a supply chain, enhancing network stability. It is feasible to solve this difficulty by validating vendors and other elements both within and outside the network and offering frequent training in this manner to employees.
