Why Cybersecurity is a Key Component of Supply Chain Resilience

Over the past two and a half years, global supply chains have faced a series of daunting challenges: snarled ports and empty warehouses, soaring freight costs, and economic turmoil have led to higher prices for goods, delivery delays, and significant tension between supply chain partners. 
These problems are compounded by the fact that supply chains are also attempting to navigate a uniquely dangerous threat landscape as cybercriminals, hostile governments, and a wide range of other malign actors increasingly target the sector. The hard truth is that supply chains face more cyber risks than ever before. NINJIO’s 2022 Supply Chain Cybersecurity Report lays out the enormity of the risk and details why strengthening cybersecurity awareness among actors in the supply chain can help reduce the threat.
Many factors have come together to increase the likelihood of a cyberattack on a supply chain. As the number of attack vectors has risen dramatically, cybercriminals, belligerent governments, and other threat actors have been targeting supply chains more actively. These cyber threats are becoming more severe when supply chains are already in crisis – a May 2022 report published by Accenture found that supply chain disruptions have led to a loss of €112 billion (0.9 percent of GDP) in the eurozone alone. Depending on the effects of the war in Ukraine, these losses could climb to €920 billion (7.7 percent of eurozone GDP) next year. 
The risk has escalated more recently. A recent report from NCC Group found that supply chain cyberattacks increased by 51 percent between July and December 2021, while less than a third of cybersecurity decision-makers said they were “very confident” that they could respond to one of these attacks quickly and effectively. 
Companies are aware that this is an unacceptable level of risk. Respondents said they were planning to increase their cybersecurity budgets by an average of 10 percent in 2022. According to the 2022 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR), supply chain attacks “increased dramatically” over the preceding year. “From very well publicized critical infrastructure attacks to massive supply chain breaches,” the report states, “the financially motivated criminals and nefarious nation-state actors have rarely, if ever, come out swinging the way they did over the last 12 months.”
The best defense supply chains have against these attacks is cybersecurity awareness because one of the most persistent trends in cybersecurity is the role of human beings in keeping organizations safe. Human behavior has a direct impact on cybercriminals’ ability to infiltrate secure systems. While this is a reminder that employee negligence and error are among the most significant cybersecurity liabilities for companies in the supply chain sector, it also means that their most effective cybersecurity asset is employee awareness. 
In NINJIO’s 2022 Supply Chain Cybersecurity Report, company leaders learn why cybersecurity is necessary for supply chain resilience, why supply chains face more cyber risks than ever, and how cybersecurity awareness can protect supply chains in these turbulent times.
Download NINJIO’s 2022 Supply Chain Cybersecurity Report here.