Managing Cyber Threats Across the Supply Chain
Third party cyber breaches are a reality you cannot ignore. Read on to find out how to manage the risk of supply chain cyber attacks and keep corporate information safe.
Third party cyber breaches are a reality you cannot ignore. Read on to find out how to manage the risk of supply chain cyber attacks and keep corporate information safe.
Supply chain breaches impacted 97% of companies over the last year, according to new research by BlueVoyant. And 93% of those surveyed said the breaches had happened as a direct result of weaknesses in their supply chain.
Third party risks are on the rise, and they could be hiding in full view somewhere in your supply chain. Having to share data with suppliers and subcontractors means that data changes ownership multiple times. Documents containing sensitive information about your business and your customers travel across an extended ecosystem.
Granting outsiders access to your sensitive information involves you in taking on a big level of responsibility and risk. It’s essential to know how to safeguard the information third parties hold further down the value chain.
4 Ways to Manage the Risk of Third Party Cyber Attacks
1. Map Your Data Flow
Track your data both digitally and physically, by keeping records of all data, from creation to disposal. Enforce protocols around data ownership and accountability by assigning data custodians, and use system controls and monitoring. Incorporate security procedures for data handling and auditing.
2. Assess How Suppliers are Safeguarding Data
- Understand the volume of transactions your suppliers are managing, and whether that data is regulated, and its level of data sensitivity
- Be aware of the changing nature of data and privacy laws (based on where the data is being processed)
- Conduct risk assessments of your third parties in terms of their security controls surrounding organisational data and accesses
3. Adopt Best Practices and Industry Standards
Cyber threat intelligence reports can give you benchmarks so you can assess your third-party providers compared with industry-leading practices. You can use this data as the basis for creating risk profiles.
4. Train Employees on Vendor Cyber Security Issues
Create a cyber incident response plan that includes a training component to help staff plan for and rehearse how to respond to incidents. Assign responsibilities within your company for communicating with internal and external stakeholders, and stress test your plan with realistic scenarios.
It does not matter how securely you lock down your systems if trusted third parties fail to protect your data. A survey by SecZetta revealed that 83% of organisations believe that having to increasingly rely on third-party contractors and freelancers has made their systems more vulnerable to cyber attacks.
Knowing where your data exists, who has access to it, and evaluating supplier protocols are good starting points when it comes to managing third party security risks. It’s also important to prioritise empowering your staff by providing them with cyber security training.
Manage Cyber Threats With Firebrand
Firebrand can help you get your employees up to speed with managing the potential cyber risks involved in your third party relationships, whether third parties are vendors or remote workers.
Security training can be done in conjunction with your third party suppliers - as part of a holistic process to limit serious supply chain security threats.
To find out more about our accredited courses, follow the link below or drop us a line at info@firebrandtraining.co.uk.