This article is part of a VB special issue. Read the full series here: Zero trust: The new security paradigm.
Over the last few decades, global supply chains have become increasingly interconnected and complex. Organizations today depend on third parties to streamline operations, reduce costs and more. Although, third parties also leave organizations vulnerable to supply chain attacks.
Many attacks originate from compromised software or hardware. By adding malicious code to a target vendor’s trusted software, threat actors can attack all the vendor’s client organizations simultaneously. The risk of such attacks also increases from data leaks at the vendor’s end, their use of internet-connected devices, and reliance on the cloud to store data.
A preventive measure organizations can lean on to mitigate supply chain attacks is to assume that no user or third party can be trusted. That means adopting zero-trust security into one’s supply chain security environment.
Supply chain vulnerabilities
Supply chain attacks happen when one of your trusted vendors is compromised, and access to your environment is gained either directly or from a service, they provide. Maintaining security includes practices ranging from restricting access to sensitive data to assessing the risk associated with third-party software.
There are several types of supply chain attacks and response measures differ depending on whether the attack is performed through hardware, software or firmware. In most cases, third-party suppliers gain access to a company’s processes, data and “secret sauce,” creating risks for the success of the comp …