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Understanding the Surge in Supply Chain Attacks

Your organization may have state-of-the-art cybersecurity Services to secure your supply network. But what about your third-party vendor? Supply chain attacks are changing the landscape of how businesses are adapting to cybersecurity. Businesses must know about their suppliers and hold some standards.

Here are the strategies your organization needs to implement to secure your supply chain and reduce the risk.   

Why are cybercriminals attacking the supply chain?

According to a statista, throughout the year 2021, there was a staggering rise of 650% in supply chain attacks. These attacks were aimed at exploiting the weakness of IT infrastructure. 

Major global brands have recently suffered from cyberattacks, and these companies have implemented rigorous security compliances. With the increased security, cybercriminals find it hard to attempt a cyberattack. Unfortunately, the supply chain is the weak spot in the security chain and, therefore, the center of multiple attacks. 

Here are the reasons why the supply chain is becoming cybercriminals’ favorite target

 

1. Inadequate cyber hygiene  

 

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many businesses shifted towards online platforms, but these online websites lack cyber hygiene. The poor cyber hygiene includes weak passwords and no two-factor authentication, weak security protocols, and no backup of data. Many people don’t change their passwords for many years across multiple platforms, which allows cybercriminals to access sensitive data.  

2. No encryption  

Organizations aim to secure their data from one network to another. The mutual trust between institutions, suppliers, and end-users is maintained through encryption. But poor encryption software or the use of open-source software can lead to network threats that cybercriminals can attack.  

3. Increase in malware attacks  

The increase in malware attacks is directly proportional to the increase in supply chain attacks. Malware is malicious code or software that is installed in the authorized apps to launch them securely.

This malicious software can be ransomware or spyware. Such attacks are known as malware supply chain attacks and are usually hard to detect.

4. Vulnerabilities  

Using weak software can lead to vulnerabilities that can attract cybercriminals. Companies that outsource their work to cheaper organizations for cost-cutting have faced more vulnerabilities.   

How to protect your business from supply chain attacks? 

  • Adopt Identity Access Management  

Organizations that implement IAM enjoy the management privilege of multiple accounts through a single interface, which ensures that all the important access is given to the responsible people.  

  • Implement a Zero Trust Architecture  

Zero trust architecture is created to assume all the network is malicious by default. After each connection request passes through strict measures, it is allowed to access sensitive data.

  • It is important to identify the potential insider threats 

Potential insider threats arise from the unaware risks associated with cybersecurity. Cybersecurity solutions like awareness training can filter out innocent users. However, insider threats are difficult to spot and are more dangerous.  

  • Choose your third-party supplies carefully

If you are using any third-party supplier’s system, make sure that you allow them restricted access and follow security guidelines.

Wrapping it up

As businesses scale up their cybersecurity, malicious hackers will look forward to the loopholes to attack innocent end-users. These criminals will access via backdoor through the supply chain network. Therefore industry giants should take proactive measures such as leveraging vulnerability management services from cybersecurity experts to address loopholes and mitigate supply chain attacks.

 

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