Approximately a third of corporate bosses observe rise in cyber-attacks on logistics networks

Almost a third of business executives have witnessed a marked rise in digital intrusions targeting their supply chains during the previous half-year, as recently reported cyber breaches on major corporations have highlighted this expanding risk to today's organizations.

Digital risks rise priority lists for procurement managers

Digital security concerns have climbed the ranking of concerns for procurement managers at hundreds businesses internationally across diverse sectors including manufacturing, power and tech, according to latest industry research conducted in September.

High-profile security breaches lead to considerable financial losses

Recent cyber attacks at various well-known corporations have led to financial impacts of tens of millions of pounds, moving cyber resilience from being primarily the responsibility of IT departments to becoming a major concern for executive leadership and company directors.

The nature of worldwide business, how we look at worldwide distribution systems and the online supply environment are increasingly linked,

remarked a leading sector leader.

Global factors intensify logistics anxieties

During previous months, procurement executives were especially worried about global conflicts, including continuing conflicts in several regions, along with commercial regulations that impacted worldwide business.

Nonetheless, cyber threats are now matching global tensions and commercial conflicts as the most significant threat for organizations of worldwide commercial organizations.

Study indicates widespread consequences

The survey discovered that almost one-third of managers reported that organizations within their logistics networks had been attacked by digital attacks in previous months.

Substantial vehicle production effects

One prominent automotive manufacturer experienced factory closures and was could not to build automobiles for four weeks, following a digital breach that forced the organization to disable computer systems across several global facilities.

The economic impact of this 30-day manufacturing halt at the UK's biggest vehicle producer has been estimated at approximately £120 million in foregone income, or £1.7 billion in foregone income, according to expert assessment from a commercial economics expert.

Current international incidents

More recently, a well-known international drinks manufacturer became the newest corporation to be forced to halt manufacturing at its domestic factories following a digital breach.

The corporation, which operates multiple production facilities in its home country producing drinks and various goods, reported that its transaction handling functions, along with shipping operations and customer service functions, had been disrupted following a technical failure triggered by the cyber-attack.

Expanding interconnectedness produces vulnerabilities

Organizations are more and more enabled by external entities. Gone are the days of considering an company as an entity functioning in separation.

Current prominent digital breaches have acted as a important lesson to businesses to allocate resources to strong digital defences, to protect their own operations and retain consumer trust, encouraging them to investigate how their supply chains could become possible focus points for hackers.