MicroScope+ Premium Content/MicroScope

Supply chain attacks such as SolarWinds and Log4j have been in the headlines a lot recently, but how big is the risk to managed service providers (MSPs) and their customers? We are seeing a new era of supply chain attacks that affect large numbers of customers, directly or indirectly. The incidents that make the headlines are only the tip of the iceberg: there was a 650% surge in supply chain attacks in 2021 alone. As the opportunity for making a profit has grown, cyber criminals have become more organised, now operating in company-like structures to maximise the financial return from their attacks. Put simply, the reason supply chain attacks are so profitable for the cyber crime industry is because they target weaknesses that can propagate one single attack to hundreds and thousands of victims at once. Piggybacking on established supplier relationships to deliver malware to their customers is a strategy now sought out by the majority of cyber crime organisations – and it clearly works for them, as statistics show that over 95% ...