Stepping up cybersecurity is the best way to prevent cyberattacks, but this doesn't always stop hackers from getting the upper hand. Attackers are now turning to supply chain attacks to target the weakest links in your supply chain to gain access to your corporate network.

But what is a supply chain attack, how does it work, and how can you prevent a supply chain attack?

What Is a Supply Chain Attack?

A supply chain attack is a cyberattack that targets companies by exploiting vulnerabilities in their supply chain, such as third-party software, hardware, services, and vendors.

You can harden security in your company, but your vendor with a poor cybersecurity posture could be a hacker's target. Once inside your vendor's network, the threat actor can attempt to access your corporate network.

How a Supply Chain Attack Works

A supply chain attack exploits the trusted relationship between a company and its external partners. These relationships include vendor relationships, partnerships, or the use of third-party software.

Here is how a supply chain attack works.

• A threat actor picks a company they want to target. The target could be a small company, a big company, or a government agency.
• The threat actor identifies a vulnerability in the company's supply chain network. For example, the target company's supplier may have been using unpatched software.
• The threat actor exploits the vulnerability and installs malware on the employee's computer.
• Once the supplier is infected, the threat actor tries to access the connected target company's sensitive data through lateral movement. Moreover, the threat actor can install malicious code on devices in the target company.

Threat actors can also employ various types of phishing attacks to trick the employees of a third-party vendor into divulging login credentials of the vendor's information systems connected to the target company. Then, the threat actor can use these credentials to steal or encrypt the target company's data.

In software supply chain attacks, threat actors change source code and hide malware in popular third-party software programs' build and update process by exploring vulnerabilities in those software programs. When you install or update such an infected software program, your device gets infected.

Why Supply Chain Attacks Are Growing

The following are key reasons why supply chain attacks are on the rise.

• Companies are increasingly using open-source software programs that anyone can inspect or modify.
• Relying on vendor-supplied apps increases supply chain risks as some vendors may not have followed security best practices when designing apps.
• Malware is becoming more sophisticated day-by-day, making it difficult to detect it within a supply chain.
• Many companies have yet to deploy the zero-trust model.

Last but not least, human errors are inevitable. Today, hackers design sophisticated social engineering campaigns to trick users of third parties into sharing login credentials to target a company with whom the third parties are connected.

How to Prevent Supply Chain Attacks

It is often challenging to detect and prevent supply chain attacks due to the complexity of the supply chain, lack of visibility, and sophistication of attack techniques.

Here are a few methods that boost your probability of preventing supply chain attacks by many folds.

1. Conduct Due Diligence on Your Vendors

When you select vendors or third-party suppliers for your company, you should carefully check their background to ensure you pick the right partners who take cybersecurity seriously.

Your vendors and third-party supplier assessment should include evaluating their security practices, compliance with industry standards, past track records, and commitment to security updates and patches.

Partnering with vendors with a strong security posture reduces the likelihood of being targeted through the supply chain.

2. Implement Zero-Trust Model

Implementing zero-trust security architecture (ZTA) is a robust security control to prevent supply chain attacks. In a ZTA, the principle of "never trust, always verify" is applied.

All users (whether in or outside your company's network) have to be authenticated, authorized, and continuously validated for security configuration before being granted or keeping access to your applications and data.

As a result, the threat actor cannot move laterally, minimizing an attack's blast radius.

In addition, the zero-trust security model can prevent ransomware attacks.

3. Adopt the Least Privilege Access

Giving excessesive privilege to employees, partners, and third parties is a recipe for disaster.

Suppose a threat actor is successful in compromising your vendor or partner. In that case, they can easily reach your network if the compromised vendor has excessive permission to access your network.

Implement the principle of least privilege, and give employees and partners the bare minimum access to do their work.

4. Have Honeytokens Implemented

Implementing honeytokens can reduce supply chain risks significantly. Honeytokens are data decoys that attract hackers. And when they interact with data, you will get an alert for the data breach.

Honeytokens also help you gather details of the breach method. Consequently, you can improve security management in your company.

5. Implement Network Segmentation

Network segmentation divides your network into smaller segments that work as independent networks. It is an excellent way to minimize the impact of supply chain attacks.

So use network segmentation to divide your network into smaller zones according to their business functions.

In any event of a supply chain attack, only a part of a network will be affected, and the rest of your network will be protected.

6. Monitor Your Vendors' Networks

Monitoring third-party attack surfaces is an effective way to identify vulnerabilities that hackers can exploit to carry out supply chain attacks.

So implement third-party risk management to secure your data and applications.

7. Minimize Shadow IT Security Threats

Shadow IT means the use of devices, tools, and software by your employees without the approval of the IT department of your company.

If you don't create strict shadow IT rules to manage cyber threats, your employees may install popular third-party software programs that might have malicious code, compromising your valuable assets.

Therefore, enforce the registration of all business devices, and all users should be forbidden to install any software themselves.

You should also implement continuous monitoring of all connected devices to detect a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack being carried out from a compromised supply chain.

8. Use Cybersecurity Tools

You should invest in good security tools to improve your company's security posture.

Think beyond Firewall and antivirus software. Use a dedicated supply chain security tool like SAP Supply Chain Management (SAP SCM) software to improve supply chain security.

9. Educate Your Staff and Vendors

Educating your staff and vendors goes a long way in improving supply chain security.

By offering comprehensive cybersecurity awareness programs to your staff and vendors, you inform them of different types of cyberattacks and how to identify and report suspicious activities.

Your cybersecurity awareness programs should mainly focus on phishing attacks, social engineering attacks, various types of malware attacks, and password attacks.

However, the exact content of training materials depends on your threat landscape and risk assessment.

Take Steps to Prevent Supply Chain Attacks

Supply chain attacks pose severe threats to your company. They can install ransomware, cause data breaches, and damage your brand irreparably. So take the necessary steps to prevent supply chain attacks.

Also, you should implement third-party risk management to enhance your security posture.