Sending data over the vast supply chain can be useful as well as risky. It is prone to various cyber threats, natural calamities, climate change and political disruption. Over the past few years, COVID-19 has influenced the supply chain resilience greatly. Businesses faced security threats and data thefts due to several ransomware or malware attacks. They caused financial losses, obstruction of operations and breaching of sensitive data. This places a question mark on the data supply chain cybersecurity. Moreover, you are unable to detect such threats until things become worse. Setting a risk management strategy might prevent such problems in the future. You need to learn the upcoming threats and devise a plan to tackle them beforehand. Implement cyber security in the supply chain to prevent future losses.
How Does the Security Management System Work?
A question may cross your head, “How can I protect my data using cybersecurity?” The way cybersecurity works is simpler than you think. It plans procedures and imposes policies to safeguard buildings, people, data and machines. Furthermore, the security management system analyses risks and threats before they cause any damage. Risk analysis helps you to know the root cause of problems and eliminate it. It prevents data theft and increases cybersecurity. Also, the system monitors a site’s protective radius and hardware. It notifies you of potential risks through several methods. You might set up alarms for notification or modify access controls. Enhance cyber risk mitigation with customised and secure workflows. The system uses complete logs to record the previously occurring problems and analyse their patterns. It also integrates a graphical user interface to manipulate software to your advantage. It optimises specific icons or menus that can be used by authorised persons only. To further enhance the security of the system you can also integrate a video management system. This provides excellent surveillance and video analytics that go beyond it. They also have open source or vendor independent cloud-based software that are compatible with third–party systems and applications. The cloud-based video management system not only fulfils surface level surveillance needs but also works well with other business operations.
How to increase Cyber Security in the Supply Chain?
Setting up a management system to increase supply chain resilience may seem easy but it’s not. You may take all the measures beforehand to avoid recurring problems in the future. Increasing data security in the supply chain can save you the hassle of hiring additional personnels for keeping your information safe. Here’s how you can increase supply chain cybersecurity.
Understand Cyber Risks
You cannot expect to solve a problem that you have never faced before. When you are working with several businesses in the supply chain. You are subjected to high levels of data breaching or data theft. The sole objective of your business is to regulate secure data flow between you and your partners. That is why you must know some common risks that can affect the supply chain. Supply chain risk management makes sure that your business is free from security risks from either external or internal sources. Though, you may face certain challenges. The major challenge is the authenticity of threats. Also, these challenges may affect your relationships with the suppliers, operational aspects and workflow. Consider a scenario, where cyber risk mitigation becomes necessary. Due to a cyber threat one of your crucial networks shut down. This could mean one thing, the power supplier might have faced an issue or due to bad weather the power has been cut off. This raises a concern in your head. You are now compelled to take necessary steps to prevent such an event from affecting your workflow. Such events can also cause you to lose valuable information as the system may restart. It is important to understand your risk density and then take appropriate actions. Using freight forwarding software might also give you appropriate suggestions that coincide with your objectives.
Increase risk awareness
Having less knowledge regarding crucial risks and their attack pattern might leave you open to bigger problems. Your workers must be aware of the common risks that affect the supply chain. You must properly train them and prepare them to deal with immediate problems that can stir within the supply chain anytime. First thing’s first, they must be able to detect basic risks associated with the company. You must also be self aware regarding the impacts of critical risks on cyber security in the supply chain. This helps you to detect the time and likelihood of the occurrence of risk. For instance, in the rainy season, you can predict heavy rainfall or floods through software or weather forecasts. Bad weather has the biggest impact on the supply chain. Depletion of supplies may occur and you might lose connection with your supplier. This may also impact your information flow over the internet. Increasing risk awareness will ultimately enhance the supply chain resilience. You must also be aware of threat actors that are constantly targeting the supply chain. They use certain attack tactics, techniques and procedures that can be understood with time. Furthermore, regular threat assessments can prevent recurring security problems. These assessments save time and effort. But you must demonstrate them to your workers or team leads so they are also aware of supply chain risks. You must also prepare a drill or a short demonstration of certain scenarios that influence supply chain cybersecurity. Also, devise various response plans to mitigate immediate risks and prevent them from affecting your business operations. Enhance your company’s resilience and communicate effectively with your suppliers.
Build risk strategy
Now you are aware of risks and potential threats surrounding your organisation. You may shift to the next step. This involves planning the right strategy for particular risks. The strategy must have different elements like people, operations, technology and external connections. With the help of freight forwarding software, you can look at crucial steps that are needed to mitigate risks affecting your organisation. This comprehensive approach is especially important because of the dynamic and complicated cyber threat patterns. You must create a structural framework for the security management system. Examine the components of the supply chain including systems, technologies, suppliers and vendors. You should assess their authenticity and vulnerabilities to potential risks. You can also scrutinise the source of raw material or its owner’s history. This ensures that you are getting high-quality goods without any disruption or doubts. You must also maintain a transparent environment in your company. Your workers must have the same knowledge as you. They must be motivated to protect your company from cyber threats and possess excellent communication skills. Optimise supply chain risk management with modified procurement processes. Stay proactive instead of being reactive. You must always be ready to face potential threats and develop active strategies against them. This includes planned sourcing which means increasing the number of suppliers and looking for alternate options in the market. You can also improve cyber risk mitigation by setting up advanced security systems like zero-trust architecture to observe any suspicious behaviour. Build back-ups or data recovery plans to reduce the impact of cyber threats. This is helpful during a power shortage or unavailability of the internet. Stay updated on geopolitical issues and keep in line with regulatory changes in the supply chain.
