Hi there! Supply chain is no longer a buzzword; instead, it has become a well-known term that people use or hear every day. Of course, this is because of the shortage of goods and labour that we have seen recently. This leads to higher prices. However, we never thought that supply chains were such critical infrastructure and important to our way of life before. This is why cyber attackers have started attacking supply chains with ransomware, malicious code injection and whatnot. They want to disrupt the supply chain at the source with attacks on poor-quality coding and design.
By exploiting third-party vendors, malicious code can be shared across a wider group of businesses. Statistically, supply chain attacks have surged up to 633% in the last year, which makes it important to understand how they are executed and how to prevent them.
Supply Chain Attack in the Modern Landscape
A supply chain sounds exactly like what it sounds like. It is a number of different businesses or organizations working together to produce and deliver a particular product or service. This may include any number of pursuits, like manufacturing, retail, goods and even the extraction, processing and distribution of a large variety of natural resources. We can imagine how many of these chains are managed in the digital world.
Supply chain attacks mainly target single or more specific points in the chain to obtain access to the entire supply chain or, at the very least, more than a single link in that chain. The attacks may emerge from a less important part but aim to obtain access to a larger entity positioned at some point in that chain.
Supply chain management software is mainly at risk and those exploiting this software can cause havoc across a wide range of businesses.
Statistics on Supply Chain Attack
A 2020 report revealed that the attacks have increased 430% in 2020, with attackers targeting open-source software to obtain access through development pipelines.
In the US alone, more than 61% of businesses were impacted by some form of threat through their supply chain in 2023.
According to Gartner, this is just the beginning and this will get worse. They predict that 45% of companies will experience attacks on their software supply chains across the world.
A 2026 Threat Hunting Report disclosed that 87% of identified software registry threats included malicious npm packages
Also, more than 300 software dependencies were attacked in a single day by Altered Spider.
10 Common Types of Supply Chain Attacks
No need to mention that in a world with rising dependence on supply-chain conglomerations, software security is the top priority. We are in urgent need of understanding the threat before we can actually address it. Let’s discuss the 10 common supply chain attacks.
Open-Source Attacks
As more and more supply chains depend on open-source software, attackers can attack code repositories to which they add malicious code. After this, identified vulnerabilities are exploited and malware is injected. This is used to attack systems and devices.
Single Sign-On Attacks
This year, a web application security researcher found that car manufacturing companies like BMW, Rolls-Royce, and Mercedes-Benz had faced attacks wherein hundreds of mission-critical internal applications were compromised through improperly configured SSO protocols.
Atlassian also faced problems with SSO in 2021. By convincing Atlassian users to access and change source code. Even though Atlassian was able to take action fairly, the damage had already occurred.
Security Certificate Attacks
A security certificate is used to assure people with the assurance that your website or product is safe to use. Unfortunately, attackers have found ways to sign code with stolen certificates with the aim of injecting malicious code into sites and services.
This technique allows attackers to read and change encrypted data as it makes its way between computers and networks.
Attacks Through Connected Devices
Whenever there is a connection in the supply chain, one can identify the opportunity to exploit a device that connects to the network to inject malware. Those who connect to your network usually have a wide range of devices like laptops, phones, tablets, USB keys and so on.
Distributed Denial of Service
A DDoS attack occurs when attackers send a huge amount of traffic to a server to stop normal users from being able to access the services or websites that they use. By sending this unrelenting traffic to the server, they can disrupt the everyday operations of those along with the supply chain.
Insider Threats
Insiders, like employees of suppliers or shipping firms, perform attacks on the supply chain of the organization.
Man-in-the-middle Attacks
Attackers intercept and tamper with data transmitted between the target company and suppliers. This allows them to inject malware and other malicious code.
Third-party Software
Malicious actors use third-party software to obtain access to the target network.
Physical Tampering
Malicious actors physically tamper with devices and equipment during the manufacturing or shipping process. This enables them to access the network once the target implements it.
Malware Injection
Attackers inject malicious code or malware into a software application or hardware component distributed through the supply chain.
Why Is it Difficult to Prevent Supply Chain Attacks?
The greatest obstacle is visibility.
A company may be sure about its main suppliers but has little information about the vendors and contractors that those suppliers work with.
According to NIST, this is becoming more of an issue since businesses increasingly use multiple digital products that are interconnected but still do not know the status of their supply chain.
Moreover, achieving the balance between safety and business activities is quite difficult. Vendors may need access to their systems in order to do their work. Removing this access completely is problematic, but too much access poses its risks accordingly.
Hence, the security of supply chains is more about risk management than technology.
How to Prevent Supply Chain Attacks?
1. Create a Comprehensive List of Third-Party Connections
It is impossible to control relations that are not visible.
Generate a complete list of important suppliers, third-party contractors, software developers, cloud services, APIs, and open-source components.
Make sure that the list goes beyond just the basic vendor list. For each key supplier, describe what services they provide, what information systems they use, what data they process, what access they have to the system, and how important their services are for business operations.
According to the National Cyber Security Centre in Great Britain, mapping the supply chain process is one of the biggest steps in managing the cybersecurity issues related to the supply chain.
It is also crucial to maintain the created list. A vendor list, which is out of date in six months, does not provide much security.
2. Categorizing Suppliers By Risk
Not all suppliers pose the same risk.
For example, a supplier of office supplies might not pose the same cybersecurity risk as a cloud service provider with electronic access to the company’s systems.
Therefore, companies should categorize suppliers based on:
The type of information they have access to, the level of importance they have to the business, the systems they can access, and the possible damages resulting from their breaches.
A high-risk supplier will receive more scrutiny, stronger demands in the contract, more frequent assessments, and more careful monitoring than a low-risk supplier.
The risk-based approach is much more reasonable than applying the same level of security to all suppliers.
3. Restrict Access of Third Parties
Third-party accounts should have just the permissions they require to carry out their specific job duties.
If a contractor needs access to a sole system, it would be unjustifiable for them to have unrestricted access to the entire internal network.
Utilizing the principle of least privilege will mitigate the consequences of a third-party account breach. Time-restricted access is another layer of security that can be utilized to control access to a temporary staff.
Companies should also examine inactive third-party accounts and terminate access when contracts come to an end or responsibilities change.
Identity and access management should therefore be integrated into supply chain security measures.
4. Imposing Strong Authentication for Vendor Accounts
A compromised vendor account can be the gateway to the organization.
Strong authentication methods, especially those that are resistant to phishing attacks, can minimize the chances that only stolen passwords will give access to the organization.
Multi-factor authentication and authorization should be used in cases of privileged and external accounts.
Furthermore, the organization should monitor authentication-related activities for any unusual patterns, such as unexpected locations and access times, unusual devices used, or attempts to access resources not usually accessed by the vendor.
5. Evaluate Suppliers Prior to Providing Access
Supplier security needs to be part of the onboarding process rather than becoming a consideration after a security incident occurs.
Depending on how risky the supplier is thought to be, the assessment may involve the examination of various aspects, including access management, vulnerability management, incident handling, encryption, security vigilance, data security, business continuity, and pertinent certifications.
The aim is not to require every security solution from every supplier, but rather to assess if the supplier's security approach is compliant with the scope of the engagement.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a supply chain attack?
A supply chain attack is defined as an attack in which the existing defenses of a target are breached through exploits directed at a third-party supplier or vendor.
What can companies do to help avoid supply chain attacks?
Companies can minimize risk by using supplier evaluations, creating inventories of assets and dependencies, ensuring least privilege access, creating strong authentication requirements, using effective software security measures, utilizing segmentation, continuous monitoring, and developing incident response plans.
Why is supply chain security important?
Companies rely on the services of other suppliers to perform many of their tasks. A disruption in the services provided by a supplier can affect the entire operation of a company.
What is cybersecurity supply chain risk reduction?
Cybersecurity supply chain risk reduction involves determining, assessing, limiting, and monitoring risks associated with suppliers and third-party vendors.