The Hidden Cyber Risks in Your Supply Chain
Your biggest cyber risk might not be inside your business — it could be one of your suppliers.
When most organisations think about cyber security, they focus on protecting their own networks, staff, and data. Yet time and again, breaches are happening through the back door — via trusted suppliers.
A growing number of high-profile incidents have shown how a cyber attack against one supplier can ripple out to hundreds of customers. It’s not just large enterprises that face this risk; small and medium-sized businesses are equally exposed when the systems or services they rely on are disrupted. Recent high profile incidents at M&S, Co-op and JLR - all have the same supplier in common for their outsourced core IT services(!)
Why Supply Chain Attacks Matter
Your supply chain is a complex web of technology partners, consultants, cloud providers, logistics companies, and contractors — each with their own digital footprint. If any one of them is compromised, the attackers may gain access to your data or disrupt your operations.
There are three main kinds of supply chain risk:
Data Risk – When a supplier stores or processes your information, a breach on their side can expose confidential or personal data. Even if you weren’t directly attacked, you’re still accountable under data protection law.
Operational Risk – If a key supplier suffers an outage or ransomware attack, your services could stop too. From cancelled deliveries to downtime in customer systems, the financial and reputational impact can be severe.
Direct risk - When suppliers deliver outsourced services such as IT support or software development, they often have direct access into your systems. If that supplier is compromised, the attacker may gain a pathway straight into your network — effectively breaching your defences from the inside.
Why Supplier Due Diligence Often Falls Short
Many organisations give little or no thought to the cyber resilience of the suppliers they depend on every day. Security questionnaires, if they exist at all, are often treated as a tick-box exercise — or based entirely on what the supplier says about themselves.
Others assume that holding a basic certification such as Cyber Essentials automatically makes a supplier “secure enough.” While Cyber Essentials is a great foundation, it isn’t designed for companies handling sensitive data or providing critical services where the risk of disruption is high.
For these higher-risk suppliers, you need more robust assurance frameworks such as IASME Cyber Assurance or ISO 27001. These go beyond technical controls — they demonstrate strong governance, incident management, supply chain oversight, and a commitment to continual improvement.
Without this deeper level of assurance, you’re effectively trusting your suppliers’ security on faith — and hoping that nothing goes wrong.
Visibility Is the First Step Toward Resilience
You can’t manage what you can’t see. Mapping your suppliers, understanding their risk profile, and verifying their cyber security credentials are the essential first steps.
That’s exactly why we built Cyber Swift — a platform that helps you:
• Map all your suppliers in one place.
• Identify cyber risks based on certification levels and dependencies.
• Manage those risks to resolution with clear accountability.
For organisations that want expert support, our Managed Cyber Supply Chain service combines the Cyber Swift platform with hands-on consultancy from Cool Waters Cyber. We help you:
• Define and document your supplier risk profiles.
• Create and maintain your supplier due diligence policies.
• Monitor compliance and drive improvements across your supply chain.
It’s a complete approach to supply chain cyber resilience — giving you visibility, structure, and confidence that your suppliers are as secure as you need them to be.
From Awareness to Action
October is Cyber Security Awareness Month — a perfect reminder that cyber security doesn’t stop at your network boundary. Awareness must extend into your supply chain.
Cool Waters Cyber’s Managed Supply Chain Risk Service, powered by Cyber Swift, helps organisations of all sizes take control of supplier risk — from discovery through to full compliance.
Because your cyber security is only as strong as your weakest supplier.