Any weakness in your organisation’s supply chain can be your fatal flaw2 min read

Attack surfaces are growing by the day as organisations onboard new suppliers and third parties across their departments. And while the combination of digital transformation over the past five years, regulations such as NIST and GDPR and the Covid-19 pandemic have pushed cybersecurity measures to be the strongest they have ever been, hackers are now increasingly looking for ways into a network that may be less protected. In short, even seemingly minor flaws in a third- or fourth- party could be the key for a cyberattacker waiting to pounce.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that your organisation shouldn’t be protecting its assets and conducting routine pentests and updates. However, as supply chain risk grows, it’s important to remember that digital risk management is a multi-layered, complex issue – you have to keep an eye on the whole picture.

Ultimately, your organisation is responsible for its cybersecurity and compliance status. No matter how many third parties or suppliers you have, you are ultimately liable for the protection of your data and assets. This can be complicated by various service providers, such as Cloud-as-a-Service or other such businesses, who obviously have their own cybersecurity and compliance obligations, and can muddy the waters when it comes to assessing culpability for a data breach or hack. However, GDPR states that your organisation is also responsible for ensuring that your suppliers and third parties are holding up their end of the bargain – that is, if they have a cyber flaw that your organisation becomes aware of, you must take some sort of risk mitigation or management action.

With the number of cyber threats emerging daily, ever multiplying by the amount of entry points inherent in today’s digital ecosystem, this is a mammoth task for any organisation – even one with a dedicated security team. This is where tools like CyDesk can help, providing ongoing monitoring automating key tasks to allow security professionals the bandwidth to deal with the more complex emerging threats.

Supply chain risk management may be more complicated than ever, but that doesn’t mean it has to be constantly overwhelming. Make sure to keep an eye on the big picture to protect your data and services, and ensure business continuity.