If you want to keep your company secrets secure, do not blindly trust your suppliers.

On Sunday, July 24, 2022, the hacked data of a Geneva-based IT security supplier was leaked online.

64,967 documents belonging to Private Banks, Multinationals, Hospitals, two Law Firms and the Geneva Airport were now in the open, revealing passwords, financial transactions, and legal proceedings.

Small businesses are frequent targets of cyberattacks.

These small businesses are part of your supply chain and expose you to risks, such as in this case: passwords and other sensitive information were stored in clear text.

Sometimes it’s also just about downtime, which accounts for much of the financial damage of a security breach, according to CISCO.

The blind spot in your risk exposure may very well be your supply chain.

“By 2025, 45% of organizations worldwide will have experienced attacks on their software supply chains, a three-fold increase from 2021.”

-Gartner 2022

43% of all data breaches involve small and medium-sized businesses, and only 14% of small companies consider their cyber-attack and risk mitigation ability to be highly effective.

Most organizations struggle managing the compliance of their vendors. It is time consuming and complex as it requires looking at cybersecurity, data privacy, continuity requirements, on top of financial and reputational aspects.

Your procurement guidelines may document your needs in compliance, but you must go a few steps further to manage your risk exposure actively.

You do need do assess your suppliers, even the ones that advise you on cybersecurity.

Imagine having a platform where you can monitor your supplier compliance, select the suitable suppliers, and customize the level of control that is right for you:

• You can adapt to a changing regulatory environment

• You don’t need to look for resources and train them

• You can assess your risk exposure and choice of suppliers in real-time

Supplier Shield was designed to watch your back and allow you to actively manage your suppliers for supply chain security.