The Cyber Security of Supply Chains: Who’s the real risk, Man or Machine?

The digital transformation of the global supply chain has brought us mind-boggling innovations: complex big data storage, artificially intelligent beings, a connection of the physical and cloud, an emergence of predictive analytics, e-purchasing, e-sourcing, a transcendence of logistical efficiency and much more.

While we marvel at the technology that has been implemented into the day-to-day operations of supply chain professionals globally, we quickly lose sight of the potential supply chain risks tech adds to the equation.

In order to address tech-related supply chain risks, organizations must have strategies in place to actively and preemptively address cyber security in-and along the entire value chain.

Due to the complexity of globally functioning supply chains, pinpointing and avoiding cyber-related supply chain risks is nearly impossible. Furthermore, the cyber security of an organizations’ supply chain isn’t solely dependent on the prevention of machine-based system breaches, crashes or cyber attacks.

Equally volatile to infrastructure security is the potential for human error.

You and I; the bozos with their fingers on the trigger are typically to blame for unforeseen backfire

And, as supply chains grow in complexity, so does the amount of hands in proximity to the technology that drives supply chain activities.

More technology, more data, more transactions, more users, more risk…

This post serves to highlight the risks associated with the digital transformation of supply chains globally. Addressing potential cyber security risks can serve as a first step to accepting the potential for risk and beginning to formulate a course of action for cyber risk-prevention.

Too many cooks in the kitchen

As stated in the,Best Practices in Cyber Supply Chain Risk Management Conference Materials, published by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST),

“Cybersecurity is never just a technology problem, it’s a people, processes and knowledge problem.”

The more individuals involved in the process of digitally enhanced supply chain activities, the more that cyber-based system has opened itself up to potential for cyber security risks.

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