The Cyber Resilience Imperative for Software Supply Chain Security

The concepts of cyber resilience and software supply chain security go hand in hand. It’s heartening that many organizations now recognize the cybersecurity landscape continues to evolve and grow more sophisticated and are taking steps to increase their security posture. However, not enough are working on becoming cyber resilient- especially when it comes to software supply chain security.

One reason is that organizations still struggle to understand the risks posed by their vendors and digital supply chains as part of their cybersecurity strategies. Further, the ability to understand/assess cyber threats, mitigate/prevent cyberattacks, and manage/respond to cyberattacks – has remained largely unchanged since 2019.

This is disheartening when you consider that there is at least one known open-source vulnerability in 84% of all code bases. And while AI and machine learning are solid weapons in the battle for cyber defense, they are also being used by threat actors to find and exploit vulnerabilities.

Cyber resilience is vitally important for several reasons. It not only improves an organization’s security posture and reduces exposing critical infrastructure but can help instill client and customer trust. If you don’t have a solid cyber resilience strategy, you risk the ability to maintain business continuity after a cyberattack. This can have a major financial impact as well as cause reputation damage.

Gartner calls cyber resilience one of the IT force multipliers that will help build sustainable organizational protection. It also creates a long-term competitive advantage.

A new Rezilion white paper examines the differences between cybersecurity and cyber resilience and offers guidance for how to become a cyber-resilient organization. The paper discusses why cyber resilience must become a business imperative because studies show that cybersecurity measures alone are increasingly being rendered obsolete.

Adding a Cyber Resilience Strategy to Software Supply Chain Security

While cybersecurity is designed to protect systems, networks, and confidential data from cybercrimes, cyber resilience is a comprehensive program based on risk management. Being cyber resilient means supporting the business strategy to protect critical assets and processes. It ensures there is a robust continuity business plan so that operations can resume if a cyberattack is successful.

“The misconception that a cybersecurity program can substitute for cyber resilience is potentially disastrous. While cybersecurity focuses on keeping attackers out, cyber resilience aims instead to minimize the mayhem caused by attackers who do manage to penetrate networks.”

The Elements to Incorporate for Cyber Resilience

For a cyber resilience strategy to be effective, it must become an enterprise-wide risk-based approach that is collaborative and includes everyone in the organization as well as external partners, supply chain participants and customers. Risks and vulnerabilities must be proactively managed with an understanding of the effects on critical information and assets.

It also requires governance, risk management, an understanding of data ownership and incident management. Teams cannot operate in silos and they must consider disparate network components to ensure they can be recovered quickly and tested so they can be put back into production.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) offers a handbook of standards and guidelines for developing cyber resiliency. It advocates for automated support tools “that can provide an efficient and effective vehicle for incorporating cyber resiliency capabilities into a variety of systems.”

Tools that accelerate incident response while providing visibility, holistic vulnerability management, and automated software supply chain security will help an organization develop a cyber-resilient posture. Cybersecurity is no longer the responsibility of IT alone.

Read the white paper today to get started with enhancing your cyber resilience and software supply chain security posture.

About the author: Esther Shein is a longtime freelance tech and business writer and editor whose work has appeared in several publications, including CIO.com, TechRepublic, VentureBeat, ZDNet, TechTarget, The Boston Globe and Inc. She has also written thought leadership whitepapers, ebooks, case studies and marketing materials.