EXIGER
“Supply chains are global and complex , and getting transparency into that is very difficult , which is why educating folks is so important ”
THERESA CAMPOBASSO SENIOR VP OF STRATEGIC ACCOUNTS , EXIGER
She adds : “ All they need to do is target a third-tier supply chain vendor who is providing important intellectual property and then whatever competitive advantage that that supplier ’ s technology offers is lost , and you then have to re-engineer something else , and you then have both a military and an economic loss .”
As well as stealing an advantage , competitors might also look to compromise key components of the supply chain .
“ This is very difficult to do when you ’ re looking at a military target ,” says Theresa , “ but is fairly easy if you ’ re looking at a small business that doesn ’ t have a security-based mindset .”
Mindset key to mitigating supply chain risk And mindset , she says , is everything when it comes to mitigating risk , and adds that the kind of companies likely to have a threatbased mindset include emerging technology firms , and those that work in fields like synthetic biology or quantum cryptography .
“ They ’ re all really concerned about cyber compromise ,” she says . “ They get hacked a lot and get a lot of phishing attempts , which is why they have a very defensive mindset and have to build robust cybersecurity programmes .” exiger . com 11