Future Hosting, a managed server hosting provider, has spoke about the threat surface represented by corporate supply chains. While many businesses understand the importance of securing their own infrastructure, comparatively few apply the same principles and standards to partners and vendors. The result, explains Maulesh Patel, Future Hosting’s VP of Operations, is a dangerously fragile digital ecosystem, with multiple points of entry for hackers who know where to look.
“Where cybersecurity is concerned, the weakest link isn’t always within your own walls,” explains Patel. “Even if you’ve taken every precaution possible to enhance your organization’s internal security posture, that doesn’t mean you’re secure. A criminal isn’t going to spend several weeks trying to break through a business’s firewall when they can get the same results by attacking a partner or vendor.”
The problem with supply chain attacks is that they can take many forms.
A hacker may inject malware into a software update for a platform they know their target uses. They may infect a website they know is frequented by a target’s staff. Or they may simply break into the servers of a partner to acquire their victim’s data, as was the case in the 2017 Netflix breach.
“Getting a complete picture of your own ecosystem is easy,” Patel continues. “But when you factor in the ecosystem of every organization you do business with, it becomes much more difficult. And hackers know this; it’s one of the reason they target the supply chain.”
Patel advises that businesses demand risk assessments be carried out by vendors and other parties before working with them. He further notes that organizations should have some means of remaining in control of critical data once it passes beyond their firewall. The more visibility they have into who is accessing and using a file at any given time, the better.
“The best way to defend against an attack that targets the supply chain is to prepare in advance,” says Patel. “To harden your supply chain as much as possible – to control your data, and work only with businesses that take security as seriously as you do.”
For his part, Patel maintains that Future Hosting is dedicated to keeping its clients protected against the latest cyber-threats, ensuring they’re free to focus on their core business.
