IMPROVING CYBER SECURITY
‘ As well as the risk of malicious attacks , there ’ s the risk of counterfeit products entering the supply chain or a loss of intellectual property caused by data leakage ’ supply chain both from a management and technical point of view , there are several steps that organisations can take including classifying the security risk of the data and access points provided to suppliers , reviewing differing regional and industry compliance standards , and ensuring all regulatory requirements are met .
Best practice guidelines should be set to assess all existing and new suppliers before entering into a business relationship . For those organisations taking their first steps on this cyber maturity journey , adherence to and adoption of the UK ’ s Cyber Essentials Scheme is a very good first step .
Ultimately , suppliers who take it upon themselves to demonstrate the steps they are taking to comply with all necessary compliance regulations , are the ones that will have a unique selling proposition in highly regulated industries .
But only if all parties work closely together will organisations feel secure against the threat to the supply chain , with collective strength a critical component in the general increase necessary in the cyber defence posture of UK plc .
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