The mounting cyber-attacks on UK based retailers and manufacturers worldwide have created a storm in the business world. Retail activities are disrupted, customer orders can’t be fulfilled, and day-to-day operations have come to a standstill.
According to Comparitech’s research, manufacturing companies lose $1.9 million per day to downtime from ransomware attacks.
Regardless of the industry in which cyberattacks happen, the supply chains and logistics operations are the common denominator that take the hit.
The vulnerability of supply chains and logistics operations is best visualized as a city with various ports connected with bridges – each port represents a trading partner or vendor and the bridges connecting these ports represent the mediums of communication and data exchange. Protection from cybercrime means protecting the bridges as much as the ports to keep the city safe.
Let’s view cybersecurity through the lens of data security.
Cyber security
Cyber security is about each partner in the supply chain ecosystem protecting their own IT systems from cyber risks like ransomware, phishing, and sensor data and industrial technology intercepts.
This means protecting individual systems of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), logistics service providers (LSPs), asset carriers, terminals and compounds, and all other supply chain nodes and trading partners that are part of a supply chain ecosystem.
Data security
A high-functioning supply chain ecosystem requires collaboration between trading partners through prompt sharing of information and data.
Data security is about protecting this collaboration from a cyber or data attack and even from exposure to competitors.
No matter how secure an organization’s internal systems are, when communication with trading partners happens over email, traditional point-to-point EDI (electronic data interchange) interfaces in combination with MS-Excel file uploads, or TMS providers and visibility platforms the confidential data is vulnerable to a data breach or could be sold to competitors.
While cyber security is essential for preventing attacks, data security ensures that sensitive or confidential information is safe even when systems get compromised.
Ecosystem thinking for protection from cyberattacks
When we talk about cyber-crime, it’s important to think about protecting the entire supply chain ecosystem: the internal and external systems of trading partners, and the way data and information are exchanged between trading partners to run daily supply chain operations.
Perhaps, the most important question to answer when planning a cyber incident response: how to protect the entire supply chain ecosystem from collapsing when one system is under attack?
Keeping a supply chain ecosystem safe and running even when your own or a partner’s system is under attack requires a fully running interoperable network solution.
In the event of a cyberattack, your supply chain ecosystem stays operational as an interoperable network immediately disconnects any system that may be under threat, thus avoiding a potential full ecosystem shutdown.
Applying AI to cyber threat detection
AI technology is now central to cyber security decision making. The foundation of artificial intelligence’s application to security is data. Specifically, standardized data available in real-time from a single source.
Data on an interoperable network solution is reliable – encrypted, immutable (cannot be manipulated), available in real-time, and bilaterally verified. These features are enabled by blockchain technology.
