 thirdparty supply chain risk during the covid19 thirdparty supply chain risk during the covid19 hemraj tue 10142025 616 thirdparty supply chain risk during the covid19 laszlo s gonc submitted by hemraj on mon 10132025 626 laszlo s gonc cissp first senior fellow divihn cybersecurity center of excellence linkedin url linkedin perspectives tag security in the digital dna expert content laszlo sgonc sort by latest featured trending thirdparty supply chain risk during the covid19 laszlo sgonc security in the digital dna latest featured trending image organizations public and private have felt the impact of the covid19 outbreak on our supply chains as suppliers have diminished workforces and capacity while cybersecurity threats may appear less of a priority hackers and cyber attackers are leveraging the headlines to swiftly escalate their attacks across most industries including healthcare banking retail and entertainment  cyfirma s threat visibility and intelligence research revealed a massive increase of over 600 of cyberthreat indicators related to the coronavirus pandemic from february to early march  many businesses today tend to have a higher dependency on outsourced products services and tools to maintain ongoing operations these services and tools can include hybrid cloud environments hosted websites external applications mobile apps and cloud storage services this results in a higher risk exposure to critical services and potentially your sensitive data during this critical time it s important to engage and have an honest dialogue with your suppliers on business continuity and cybersecurity risk establish a strong communication channel  establish a strong communication channel with your suppliers it is essential for a successful partnership ensure you have established a clear and transparent process with a single point of contact begin with setting expectations and defining the related processes for refining and enforcing them from a security standpoint set those expectations with a clear understanding of what your vendor will do and how their activities and responsibilities can create potential security issues for your organization in turn letting them know the potential issues cybersecurity awareness  your thirdparty suppliers especially smaller organizations may not be aware of the increased cyber threats be proactive through regular meetings and creating an established channel to share vetted information they can use to avoid phishing and other forms of cyberattacks create a dashboard of reporting metrics to monitor your critical supply chain partners business continuity  some thirdparty suppliers to your organization s operations may be determined critical if they should be adversely affected you may risk a loss to certain areas of your business operations engage your thirdparty suppliers and ask what they are doing to ensure their operations continue in the face of adverse events like cybersecurity awareness partner with them to share vetted information for best practices in ensuring they have resources to cope with these types of challenges risk and controls  moving operations to alternative locations and external providers carries increased risks it is important to understand your regulatory and compliance landscape inventory and understand the critical services and sensitive information your thirdparty supplier handles beyond conducting risk assessments with your suppliers partner with them to monitor and assess cybersecurity risks especially when there is a change in the relationship product or service in many cases the regulatory and compliance liability remains with your organization centralized assessment  centralizing your assessment of supplier risk and resilience during periods of disruption and heightened risk represents a major operational advance for many thirdparty data breaches may force your organization to respond to incidents that are outside of your control or originate from an indirect source regardless of obligation your organization may suffer significant reputational damage as a result of the incident four 4 things to do now to address third party risk communication  establish clear and transparent processes set expectations cybersecurity awareness  partner with suppliers to understand the risks business continuity  understand the impact to your business if your supplier is interrupted risk and controls  understand the regulatory and compliance landscape monitor compliance  