When confronted with a cyberattack, suppliers can quickly turn from friend to foe. As many as half of all supply chain disruptions are caused by cybersecurity incidents among suppliers or a supplier’s suppliers, and come with high price tags that impact a company’s reputation, operations and bottom line.
There’s no way to fully prevent cyberattacks, but the risks can be mitigated to a large degree. Business leaders must take proactive steps to secure one of the more vulnerable arms of their operations: the supply chain.
Many companies don’t believe they share enough data with their suppliers to truly be at risk should one of them fall victim to a cyberattack. According to a 2022 IBM study with the Ponemon Institute, data breaches originating in supply chain attacks take 235 days to identify and another 68 to contain, costing businesses on average $4.46 million. Not being proactive can be costly and impact more than a company’s net income. Reputation among customers is also at stake.
Challenges such as lack of experience, time constraints, difficulties engaging suppliers and perceived costs have deterred businesses from initiating effective cyber risk management…
