Many adversaries now take advantage of new vulnerabilities and convert them into weaponized attacks very easily and very quickly, while the extreme adversaries are now focusing on supply chain and targeted attacks. This combination makes for a very challenging environment for any modern enterprise. 

Just as organizations require a show of security and compliance due diligence for their enterprise applications, so should they be doing for their IoT devices. They should also be putting this same pressure on their suppliers.

In order to remain resilient and meet the emerging priorities around effective supplier management, improved business continuity planning, and increased community engagement, business leaders need to assess and benchmark their performance around three core areas of organizational resilience: operational resilience, supply chain resilience, and information resilience.

Supply Chain Risk is more pertinent now that digital transformation initiatives are the norm. In a recent Ponemon study, 82% of respondents believe their organization experienced at least one data breach due to digital transformation. At the same time, 55% said with certainty that at least one of the three breaches was caused by a third party. Reporting on SCRM and gaining visibility into the cyber risk across third parties is critical to the security of both small and large organizations, especially in the digital age we live in.

To help software vendors and customers defend against these attacks, CISA and the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) have released Defending Against Software Supply Chain Attacks. This new interagency resource provides an overview of software supply chain risks and recommendations. The publication also provides guidance on using NIST’s Cyber Supply Chain Risk Management (C-SCRM) framework and the Secure Software Development Framework (SSDF) to identify, assess, and mitigate risks.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Department of Homeland Security, and CISA have released a Joint Cybersecurity Advisory (CSA) addressing Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) cyber actors—also known as Advanced Persistent Threat 29 (APT 29), the Dukes, CozyBear, and Yttrium—continued targeting of U.S and foreign entities. The SVR activity—which includes the recent SolarWinds Orion supply chain compromise—primarily targets government networks, think tank and policy analysis organizations, and information technology companies and seeks to gather intelligence information.

In recognition of National Supply Chain Integrity Month, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is partnering with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the Department of Defense, and other government and industry partners to promote a call to action for a unified effort by organizations across the country to strengthen global supply chains.

Many lessons were learned in enterprise IT and security teams in 2020, right down to the final weeks of the year with the SolarWinds attack. We closed out a miserable year with a devastating reminder about the danger of third party access and supply chain attacks.

How can consumers and retailers protect themselves against fraud in the coming months? Here, Jane Lee, Trust and Safety Architect at Sift, speaks to Security magazine about this critical issue.

The recent SolarWinds breach has brought vendor risk management into the spotlight. With 59% of data breaches being traced to third-party vendors and the average enterprise having 67 vendors with privileged access, managing third party risk is no longer optional, says Tony Howlett, Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) of SecureLink. Here, we speak to Howlett about why security and risk professionals need to take control of their third-party exposure and implement safeguards and processes to reduce their vulnerability.