Over the last decade, we have witnessed many types of unpredictable disasters, including terrorist attacks, wars, earthquakes, economic crises, devaluation of currencies, SARS, tsunamis, cyber-attacks, and more recently the COVID-19 pandemic. Today’s global economy has made the world more interconnected than ever, and with the increasing trend to source globally, the COVID-19 virus has demonstrated the extensive impact that supply chain disruptions can have on a business. This has led to an increased need for global insurance coverage as one of the means to protect against supply chain disruptions – specifically, business interruption (BI) and contingent business interruption (CBI) coverage.
Interos – Corporates Urged To Take An Introspective Look At Supply Chain Risk
From the coronavirus crisis to REvil ransomware attacks to the Suez Canal blockage, the volume of supply chain disruptions continues to grow, and businesses have their hands full with mitigating risk on multiple fronts. Jennifer Bisceglie, founder and CEO of Interos, said the damaging results of these events tendt o share one thing: “It’s a perfect storm coming together of physical, digital, human and natural disasters and mistakes,” Bisceglie told PYMNTS in a recent interview. “The common denominator for all of this is the utter lack of visibility. “As organizations prioritize supply chain risk mitigation and supplier management, firms are taking a more strategic look at how to minimize disruption. But there are some missteps that companies continue to make, Bisceglie noted, and as companies begin to hold their suppliers more accountable for their supply chain stability, they must also hold themselves to those high standards too, she said.
Defense Cybersecurity: Defense Logistics Agency Needs to Address Risk Management Deficiencies in Inventory Systems
A Department of Defense task force concluded in 2018 that DOD’s inventory management systems were potentially vulnerable to attack. These systems, run by the Defense Logistics Agency, are used to manage the defense supply chain. They reviewed efforts to reduce the risks in 6 inventory management systems. The agency has taken some prescribed risk management actions but could do more. For example, they found 69% of its plans to fix identified security weaknesses were not carried out on time. They made 5 recommendations to improve the cybersecurity of these systems.
The Importance of Supply Chain Risk Management in Government
The recent massive cyberattack against government agencies and the private sector, suspected to emanate from Russia, has made the federal IT supply chain a front-and-center concern. In that incident, malware embedded in a software update of a technology product enabled hackers to roam undetected on customers’ networks, including federal systems, for at least nine months.