Supply Chain Cyberattacks: Hacking You Through Your Vendors

Summary: This 3-minute article explains how hackers can breach your network through your third-party vendors. Learn about the cyber defense solutions that can help protect SMBs from these supply chain attacks. For more detailed information about supply chain cyber security, contact DIGIGUARD Cyber Security at https://www.digiguardsecurity.com/ to discuss the best small business cyber security to protect your SMB from supply chain attacks.

You’ve spent a lot of time on money protecting your SMB from cyberattacks. You understand how important it is to protect all your hard-earned business data. Maybe you have an IT expert examine your computer system for vulnerabilities and keep everything up to date.

However, most businesses develop trusted relationships with their vendors and third-party suppliers over time. Some SMBs have achieved added efficiency by allowing vendors to access certain parts of their computer system while doing business together. But are your trusted vendors secure enough?

What Is A Supply Chain Attack?

Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supply_chain_attack) defines a supply chain attack as: “a cyber-attack that seeks to damage an organization by targeting less secure elements in the supply chain.” In this instance, a trusted vendor might have unwittingly become the weakest link in your extended business network. This phenomenon is also known as a third-party attack.

Supply Chain Risks

Supply chain attacks can be very shrewd in that there are several ways in which hackers can capitalize upon the security vulnerabilities of other companies you trust. Powerhouse companies like Microsoft and British Airways have fallen victim to attacks through trusted third parties. There are several main types of supply chain attacks:

• Infected Commercial Software and Development Tools – Cyberthieves can attack the components for building software in the earliest stages of development. In this way, software is created with cyber security vulnerabilities built in before it is released.
• Certificate Thefts – Hackers steal certificates used to authenticate a company’s legitimacy or compliance with safety standards. Once stolen, the certificates can be used to distribute malware, hijacking the trust and reputation of the target company.
• Compromised Device Firmware – All digital hardware is managed by firmware that allows for efficient interfacing with users and other outside systems. Cybercriminals attack their targets at the hardware level, implanting malicious code in their digital devices’ firmware.
• Pre-installed Malware – Hackers have found ways to break into cameras, tablets, phones, USB drives and many other mobile devices and plant malicious code in them. As soon as one of the devices connects to a business’s computer system, the malware is launched and the infection begins.

Third-Party Cyber Threats and Security

Supply chain cyber security is essential for protecting your SMB from third-party attacks. SMB owners should not fool themselves into believing that hackers won’t bother with them because they’re small. On the contrary, cybercriminals see SMBs as under-protected and vulnerable. More than one out of four companies suffer data breaches; over half of those attacks are through third parties.

There are several effective ways of protecting your business from supply chain attacks:

• Be Prepared for a Breach – The expression “Prepare for the worst; hope for the best” applies to supply chain attacks. Your business and your trusted third-party contacts are all in this together. Therefore, cyber transparency is essential to being prepared.
  • Demand Cyber Security Updates from Third Parties – Because supply chain attacks go beyond your SMB’s network, getting security updates from your trusted third parties is essential. Sadly, whatever vulnerabilities they have in their computer systems could become yours. Therefore, it is crucial that their cyber security is robust and up to date. To remain a trusted vendor, they must address all possible leaks within their system.
• Consider Honeytokens – Honeytokens pose as important resources pretending to be vital data. They are booby traps that alert companies to suspicious network activity. As soon as a hacker attempts to breach this decoy, alarms go off and the details of the attempted hack are revealed. As mentioned above, your trusted vendors should be on the same cyber security page and implement their own honeytokens.
• Manage Access Privileges – SMBs should be very stingy with access to sensitive data. Generally, employees should only be granted access to the software and files they need to perform their jobs. For example, someone in a graphics department does not require access to accounting files. The most sensitive company data should be restricted to appropriate C-level employees. The restriction is significant because supply chain attacks often start with an attack entry point, somewhere lower in the corporate hierarchy, and then move laterally through a system, gradually working their way up the corporate ladder.
• Employee Training – Part of the “We’re all in this together” mentality should be enforced by employee cyber security training for your staff and the companies with which you do business. Training should commence with new employees and continue with regular updates and refresher training. As many attacks are unknowingly launched by employees impulsively clicking on links and attachments in emails, keeping cyber threats fresh in the employee mindset will reduce the chances of a cyberattack.
• Identity Access Monitoring (IAM) – Monitoring privileged access adds accountability and will track who opened what files and from where they are accessed.
• Encrypt Internal Data – Encrypting all your SMB’s internal data will make it harder for hackers to access a backdoor necessary for launching a supply chain attack.

In addition to installing high-end anti-virus software on your computer, instituting cross-company use of multi-factor authentication to access files is a great practice that will add a significant second layer of security to your computer system and network.

Cyber thieves are always developing new ways to automate their attacks so they can just sit back, wait and watch. But constant monitoring and state-of-the-art cyber security, in tandem with employee best practices, can dramatically reduce the chances of your SMB’s data being breached.