Guaranteeing the physical safety of assets is not enough anymore, today, companies must pay special attention to their information systems due to cyberterrorism and criminal threats.
In this sense, the logistics sector has become a target for hackers to control not so much the transport assets but the goods these companies store. The amount of data handled by the supply chain makes it unsafe because of the information shared by manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, and clients. The visibility of all this information in management systems running on manual devices and with technologies such as GPS, increases the risk of compromising data integrity and confidentiality; even though we need to share this information to improve management efficiency, we need to keep in mind that this information is priceless for criminals.
Due to the digitalization of supply chains, logistics has become susceptible to virtual attacks and, even though we cannot completely remove the possibility of being a victim of this criminal activity, it is possible to avoid it or mitigate the aftermaths.
The formula to combat these attacks includes both corrective and preventive tasks. In fact, the latter may make the difference when facing typical physical thefts such as theft of shipments from our warehouses, substituting goods with pirate products, and using transport networks to carry drugs or contraband. It also makes a difference when facing thefts involving technology such as mistakes in product distribution, computer viruses, hardware vulnerabilities, installing pirate software, and issues with e-freight.
Others issues we should consider in cybersecurity that may have an impact on the future of transport systems are their complete connectivity with the internet and the automated transfer of data in real time, which may endanger the drivers and merchandise if the systems were to be compromised.
Even though many of these cases depend greatly on the technological reality of each country, there are also actions that help logistics companies to ready themselves for any risks:
1. Corporate Culture
Employees may be the main shield to avoid being attacked; giving them constant training about ethics and cybersecurity is no longer optional. The organizational development department must include these issues and make employees responsible for running the software updates, especially the antivirus suites, as well as contacting the IT department whenever they feel suspicious about any issue.
2. Setting up a Committee
We recommend creating a team of people from different departments to continuously find out possible threats and to discuss security issues and best practices that they can later permeate to the rest of the company.
3. Prioritizing Threats
We suggest creating a plan with rescue methods, recovery times, and risk mitigation techniques with the information gathered by the committee, looking to avoid the interruption of operations. This plan should also include a list of all the assets used in the supply chain – computers, cell phones, tablets, employee data, client data, and financial information – and classify them according to relevance.
4. Mapping the e-relationships
To supplement the last item, we also suggest creating a map of the electronic links to clients, suppliers, and second-level contacts we establish along the supply chain. This map will reveal the interdependency and show possible vulnerabilities that may arise along the supply chain, from the reception of raw materials to the delivery of products.
5. Auditing Suppliers
It is recommended to schedule audits to suppliers in terms of the contract and legal requirements that guarantee the safety of information and the protection of the company’s and clients’ confidential data, as well as supervise their performance and verify the integrity of raw and indirect materials they supply.
6. Allotting Budget
To carry out the previous issues, we need to have a budget item that contributes to combat any possible attacks. This budget item must consider special software for information security, antivirus, specialized staff assigned exclusively to alert monitoring, training, courses, and others.
Meanwhile, it is suggested to avoid an excessive mitigation of risks that may block or delay other activities such as sales, which require the utmost agility for completion.
Being so highly connected to other departments of the company makes supply chains susceptible to cyber threats, which depend not only on the technology factor but also on the human factor. To avoid the most being the target of attacks, companies should get ready just as they do when facing other types of risks: first they must analyze the threats, then assign them priority, then develop a mitigation plan, and, lastly, build a culture committed to the protection of information.
Managing risks in the supply chain consists not only of delivering the products as agreed but also of securing and safeguarding all the administrative and operational tasks for the safety of the company, the clients, and the suppliers.