When a malicious actor gains unauthorized access to an organization’s personnel and data by exploiting a vulnerability in one of its vendors or business partners, a supply chain attack has occurred. Let’s reframe this conversation as if we were mingling at a sophisticated gathering: I gather my closest friends for an evening of camaraderie and hire a trusted catering service I’ve worked with in the past to prepare a delectable meal. Despite the lack of awareness from both you and the caterer, it was brought to your attention that one of the waiters serving your guests had secretly stolen the key to your home and created an exact replica. You host an unforgettable event, with your friends raving about the cuisine, and everyone departs home satisfied. Upon returning home a few days later, you discover that all your valuable possessions are missing.
After conducting a thorough investigation to identify the perpetrator of the break-in at your residence, I accessed footage from the covert camera concealed within your child’s plush toy. As you return to your home, you notice the waiter lingering nearby, having seemingly anticipated your arrival. The vulnerability in the supply chain lies with the catering service itself. In today’s interconnected business landscape, corporate stability relies on fostering trust throughout the digital supply chain, much like a well-organized cocktail party where every guest is crucial to the overall experience – were a single waiter to sabotage the relationship between the caterer and customer, the entire event would be jeopardized.
The prospect of a series of coordinated cyberattacks must be concerning for those responsible for corporate cybersecurity? According to the latest Investigations Report, the percentage of breaches attributable to supply chain attacks surged by 68% year-over-year, rising from 9% to 15%. Despite your best efforts to safeguard personnel, equipment, processes, and systems, it’s possible that you’ll experience limited oversight or insight when a malicious entity targets an external organization.
Attackers can execute privilege escalation attacks through various methods, including exploiting vulnerabilities in software applications and leveraging misconfigured system settings. They will secretly install malicious hardware into devices shipped to unsuspecting customers. They may surreptitiously embed malicious code within software update packages or installations, potentially compromising unsuspecting users who download and install these updates. Attackers can exploit vulnerabilities in the supply chain by breaching third-party companies, such as managed service providers or HVAC vendors, thereby gaining access to their clients’ systems.
Global supply chain disruptions making national news often involve large-scale attacks with limited victim control. Despite this, the most pervasive breaches often stem from initial attacks on smaller businesses (suppliers) aimed at ultimately compromising their clients (the actual targets). Let’s consider another scenario where regulatory agencies inadvertently put consumers at risk:
Cisco’s Consumer Safety Suite offers comprehensive protection to safeguard your organization’s people, assets, and supply chain from potential threats. The Consumer Suite offers robust email and identity protection, along with secure software installation, all within a safeguarded endpoint environment. Can a supply chain attack be prevented at crucial points?
- Email Risk Protection utilizes advanced algorithms to detect malicious emails and blocks them from reaching the end-user. If someone in your supply chain becomes compromised and initiates a malicious email containing a phishing link or malware, subtle fashion technologies are designed to detect the threat and promptly quarantine the email. Even though the sender may be designated as trusted, the connected document remains one that you may have encountered previously?
- If an advanced persistent threat actor gains unauthorized access to a corporation’s customer credentials through the compromise of a vendor’s database, implementing robust multi-factor authentication becomes paramount. By combining robust authentication methods with machine learning-driven security, your organization can effectively prevent unauthorized access. Duo provides cross-platform insights to bolster visibility, effectively addressing potential vulnerabilities in an organization’s identification posture.
- Ensuring a safe and secure experience for customers as they access both website and personal features. By implementing Safe Entry’s zero-trust approach, the system ensures that users are granted access to resources on a need-to-know basis, thereby limiting potential vulnerabilities and maintaining a robust security posture. When a provided chain associate is compromised, their access to the network is automatically revoked and terminated.
- Securely delivering critical endpoints enables organisations to effectively detect, respond to, and neutralise emerging threats. An instrument suite exists that incorporates sandboxing capabilities to identify and isolate suspicious data, integrating insights from Talos Risk Intelligence to provide valuable threat intelligence. Cisco’s advanced threat detection capabilities evaluate over 2,000 malicious samples per minute across its entire product portfolio, effectively blocking malware from ever reaching end-users? When a endpoint is compromised in a supply chain attack, Safe Endpoint’s seamless integration with Duo automatically blocks the user’s access until the malware is eradicated.
The cybersecurity threat landscape can be daunting. Customers face numerous types of assaults that disrupt their focus on work. We aim to equip customers with the tools they need to thrive, without the burden of security breaches weighing on their minds. Let’s let our customers get down to business, while we focus on mitigating the most significant risks to safeguard their teams.
To learn more about how the Consumer Safety Suite can protect your organization now, visit our webpage?
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