Securing Your Supply Chain: How to Protect Against Cyber Attacks on Third-Party Partners
Cyber criminals don’t always target you - they target who you trust.
Supply chains have always been the lifeblood of manufacturing, linking together suppliers, logistics partners, technology providers, and customers in a delicate and interdependent ecosystem.
With businesses now operating in an increasingly digital-first environment, these once purely operational chains have transformed into sprawling digital networks. Every software update, cloud service, logistics interface, and supplier portal has become a potential entry point for cyber attackers.
The complexity and speed of global supply chains - often considered a major strength, now poses as a serious liability.
PureCyber’s research highlights a sobering reality: very few organisations have scrutinised the cyber security posture of their suppliers, with only 13% of manufacturers assessing their immediate partners and a mere 7% evaluating risks further up the chain. This lack of oversight means that businesses may be investing heavily in protecting their own walls while leaving back doors wide open through poorly secured suppliers.
For adversaries, this creates an appealing and efficient strategy: target the weakest link and use it as a stepping stone into larger, better-defended enterprises.
Ultimately, supply chain vulnerabilities are capable of halting production, damaging reputations, and disrupting entire industries. To survive and thrive, organisations must view cyber security not just within their own four walls, but across the entire network of partners and providers they rely upon.
Why Supply Chain Cyber Security Demands Executive Focus
Cyber threats to the supply chain are not confined to traditional IT systems. Compromised industrial control systems, trojanised software updates, or malicious scripts embedded in third-party website templates can all serve as springboards for large-scale attacks.
We’ve highlighted three real-world examples of supply chain compromise:
Third-party software providers: The cyber espionage group Dragonfly trojanised legitimate ICS software distributed via supplier websites, delivering malware to unsuspecting customers.
Web services and creative agencies: The Shylock banking trojan, hidden within website builders, infected visitors by hijacking core template scripts from a UK digital agency’s site.
Data brokers and storage providers: A botnet attack on third-party data aggregators in 2013 compromised business-critical datasets used in credit, logistics, and B2B marketing - information that is often taken for granted.
These are not hypothetical threats - they are real-world scenarios demonstrating how supply chain vulnerabilities can amplify risk for any manufacturer, large or small.
The Human and Organisational Barriers
Several structural challenges leave manufacturers exposed:
Insufficient awareness of supply chain cyber risks
Underinvestment in cyber security measures
Limited visibility into the extended supply chain
Lack of tools or expertise to assess supplier security
Difficulty advising suppliers on improving their cyber security posture
Moreover, smaller firms often lack the resources to prioritise these concerns – however attackers are fully aware of this imbalance. They tend to target the less protected nodes because the path of least resistance often lies beyond the front door.
Protective Measures: From Awareness to Assurance
PureCyber recommends a proactive and layered strategy to mitigate supply chain cyber risks:
Develop Supplier Partnerships
Cultivate open communication channels and shared security goals. Security should be a collaborative endeavour, not a unilateral measure.Embed Security in Procurement
Make cyber security a priority from negotiations onwards. Select suppliers who meet benchmark standards like Cyber Essentials or ISO 27001 - and hold them accountable “on paper and in practice”.Conduct Due Diligence & Audits
Review and monitor suppliers’ security practices regularly, not just at onboarding. This ongoing oversight helps catch evolving threats before they cascade inward.Secure Data Flows
Enforce encryption, access controls, and network segmentation for data moving within the supply network.Train Comprehensively
Equip both internal staff and supplier contacts to recognise phishing, malware, and anomalies. Awareness is a critical defensive layer.Adopt Governance Frameworks
Align supply chain security with formal frameworks such as IASME Cyber Assured or ISO 27001 which support integrated risk management systems.
By championing these practices, organisations can shift from reactive containment to grounded resilience.
How PureCyber Supports Supply Chain Resilience
PureCyber is recognised as an Assured Service Provider by the NCSC, offering governance and compliance services encompassing Cyber Essentials, ISO 27001, SOC1/2, and FISMA. Our managed services span:
24/7 Security Operations Centre (SOC)
Managed Extended Detection & Response (MXDR)
Threat Exposure Management (TEM)
Penetration Testing
Supply chain-specific risk reviews, audits, and training
You can also check out our Supply Chain Resilience webinar, designed to help organisations identify and remedy weak links in their supplier network.
Supply Chain Security in a Rapidly Evolving Regulatory Landscape
As regulatory frameworks like DORA and NIS2 gain traction - especially within the EU and soon in the UK via the Cyber Resilience Bill, organisations must demonstrate continuous supply chain security, not just reactive patchwork. It’s therefore crucial for organisations with a complex supply chain network to maintain a level of cyber readiness and monitor their risk exposure through the following actions:
Identify and mitigate supply chain vulnerabilities using automated, continuous risk assessment
Prepare for supplier compromise with joint incident response exercises and redundancy planning
Harden internal defences, constantly monitoring third-party access and permissions
By taking these steps to proactively monitor, protect and prepare for incident response, your organisation and its wider supply chain network will be better prepared to defend against attack and recover should an incident take place.
A Chain Is Only as Strong as Its Weakest Link
Supply chains have evolved into vast digital ecosystems that are every bit as critical to business continuity as the physical assets within a business’s operational network. The unfortunate truth is that they are also among the most fragile. Attackers increasingly look outward rather than inward, identifying overlooked suppliers, under-secured subcontractors, and vulnerable third-party platforms as convenient entry points. For organisations, this means that resilience can no longer focus solely on internal defences; it must extend across the full breadth of their operational network.
PureCyber’s approach highlights that proactive resilience is achievable. By embedding supplier audits, contractual obligations, and internationally recognised governance frameworks into procurement processes, businesses can build trusted partnerships that strengthen rather than weaken their security posture. Training staff to spot anomalies, simulating supplier breach scenarios, and demanding transparent security practices from vendors are not simply best practices, but essential components of modern governance.
For manufacturers and wider industries alike, the imperative is clear: a secure supply chain is more than a technical necessity, it’s a competitive advantage. Customers, regulators, and partners will increasingly demand evidence that businesses are safeguarding not only their own assets but also the integrity of their extended networks. Those who embrace this reality will position themselves as resilient, trustworthy leaders in their fields. Those who do not, risk becoming case studies in what happens when a single weak link brings down an entire chain.
The question leaders must ask themselves is no longer “what if a supplier is compromised?” but “how ready are we when - not if - it happens?”. With the right frameworks, partnerships, and foresight, the supply chain can shift from a primary point of vulnerability into one of the strongest pillars of resilience.
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How Can PureCyber Help?
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PureCyber is recognised as an Assured Service Provider by the NCSC to offer governance and compliance consultancy services/audits. Contact our team of compliance experts to enquire about our full range of Governance Support - including Cyber Essentials, ISO 27001, FISMA, SOC1 and SOC2 standards.
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