Trevor Dearing, the EMEA Director of Critical Infrastructure Solutions at Illumio, said “It is encouraging to see NIST releasing updated guidance acknowledging the increase in cyber-attacks targeting the supply chain and the consequent necessity to bolster the supply chain’s cyber security. We can no longer turn a blind eye to the exponential increase in attacks on the IT systems of manufacturers, logistics companies and organisations, which ultimately target the operational part of the business.”
Cyber-attacks have real-world impacts
Cyber-attacks that disrupt the logistics or manufacturing process can have immediate real-world impacts"
He adds, “The truth is threat actors have realised they can increase efficiency and profitability, by compromising a single product, knowing it will have impact downstream on companies who use it.”
Trevor Dearing continues, “Moreover, cyber-attacks that disrupt the logistics or manufacturing process can have immediate real-world impacts, further increasing the likelihood that any ransom demands will be met, as organisations flounder to get critical systems back up and running. The result is that supply chain attacks have increased with a vengeance.”
Zero Trust approach to security
He adds “A Zero Trust approach to security provides organisations with confidence in their supply chain security because by only allowing known and verified communication between environments, security teams can be sure that an attack on the IT systems will not affect the management or logistics processes.”
Trevor Dearing concludes, “With the move to industry 4.0 and the adoption of cloud connected industrial IoT (Internet of Things), the potential impact of a ransomware attack will only continue to grow. That’s why, it is important to act now and put security measures in place that will make our infrastructure resilient to attacks – even once they’ve breached our perimeter.”