Today we are going to discuss the topic of Cyber Supply Chain Risk Management which is absolutely essential organizations to understand in order to mitigate potential threats and ensure your digital supply chain remains robust and secure.
With the impact of the pandemic rapidly growing, the risk of threats directed at your cyber supply chain is growing exponentially. Organizations are immersing themselves into all relevant cyber concerns of their operations, but it’s a big undertaking. As a result, many organizations are engaging third-party suppliers to exhibit their work around the world.
Effective cyber supply chain risk management ensures that the manufacturing or delivery of cyber services has a strategy that controls its forthcoming threats, identifies risks and capitalises on any present opportunities.
Best Practice is JAS-ANZ accredited to provide certification to ISO 27001:2013.
The Australian Signals Directorate’s Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) defines the key cybersecurity issues related to Cyber Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM). An organization must determine the vulnerability of its systems regarding sensitivity and business value that carry appropriate risk activities.
An organization must establish a set of policies that define an organisation’s cyber chain risk management strategies, even before entering into the services with a third party. If another organization is involved in delivering a product or service to your organization, a cyber supply chain risk may originate from that organization. Similarly, your organization transfers any cyber supply chain risk you hold to your customer. All organizations who are working digitally must consider cyber supply chain risk management (CSCRM).
How to Manage The Cyber Supply Chain?
The first step of this process is to understand the concept of the cyber supply chain. This includes all suppliers, such as software and hardware vendors, managed services providers, and, where possible, their sub-contractors. Furthermore, it is essential to know the value of information that your systems process, store, communicate, and how sensitive and valuable it is for you.
Cyber supply chain risk management can be undertaken by identifying the cyber supply chain. For example, all the organizations at the initial point must make a list of their suppliers and their sub-contractors they have business arrangements with. It is extremely significant to understand the sources from where your supplier is providing you the services. If not managed well, more vulnerabilities could come along with the supplier’s services.
In determining what risks a supplier poses, organizations must seek an understanding of the supplier security postures in many ways. This may include investigating their existing cyber security policies, or implementation of an information security management system like ISO 27001, Essential 8 framework, or ISM Policies, etc.
Regardless of which supplier you choose for your organization, you must establish security expectations with your suppliers. These expectations must be documented to ensure that suppliers are appropriately managing their security postures, including their cyber supply chain. The terms of these contracts and memorandum of understanding need not be included where the supplier has already undertaking high classified system to manage cybersecurity.
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Monitor and Audit Supplier Compliance
Once the cybersecurity expectation has been discovered, it is recommended that organizations must audit to gain confidence in supplier risk management. The best way to manage the cyber supply chain risk management is through routine audits or interval monitoring on delivering services by the supplier. In that way, both the supplier and customers can build trust in their partnership. Such partnerships can be strengthened through common cybersecurity goals and information sharing arrangements, such as sharing best practices and assisting each other with acknowledging cybersecurity incidents and involving each other in any cybersecurity exercises.
For consistent cyber supply chain management an organization must follow these 4 steps:
1.Know your system. An organization must recognize its internal systems, with regard to sensitivity and business purpose, especially in a national security context, in order to inform appropriate risk activities.
2.Understand your supply chain risk. An organization must identify relevant system risk assessments including how they can be exploited and keeping familiarized with the relevant current threats.
3.Manage your supply chain risk. An organization must manage the supply chain alongside other system cybersecurity risks. Their sole objective is to eliminate the risk of reoccurring in the systems.
4.Monitor your supply chain and the controls. An organization’s supply chain and the systems they supported to change over a period of time. They must regularly monitor and review their SCRM and the controls. They must ensure the whole system, including supply chain management, follows the expectations laid in the memorandum of understanding.
