The other measures – Detect, Respond ory How do Canadian supply chains com- bat these heinous and costly attacks? Margaret Mills Associate Partner, Kyndryl Holdings Inc. political positions they have taken, and these are more often being targeted by state-funded cyber-terrorism. For example, cyber-security agencies noticed a significant uptick in cyber-ac- tivity in some companies who pulled their business out of Russia follow- ing the country’s invasion of Ukraine this past February. She explains that while cyber-attacks can originate from any country, world events often play a significant role in the locations of cyber- crime hotspots. Fortunately, the list of solutions runs so long that Mills says she could spend weeks talking about it. Kyndryl Holdings Inc. runs some of the largest data management centres in the world, which includes the data of several Fortune 500 companies. With this level of sensitive data, Kyndryl has built keen insight into how to effec- tively prevent and protect this information from breaches. Mills refers to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), a non-regulatory agency of the United States Department of Commerce, and the five categories of the NIST frame- work that should be followed when it comes to cyber-security: Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond, Recover. Identify and Protect are preventative measures that are offered by “tonnes and tonnes” of different cyber-security products and services. Such measures include “penetration testing” to determine the quality of a company’s cyber-protec- tion through ethical hacking and filling in any gaps in the protection. Prevention also includes better training for company employees, such as being made aware of the risks of cyber-attacks and avoiding taking any risky actions, such as down- loading software off the internet. and Recover – are in place if companies do fall victim to cyber-attacks. Such tools include data monitoring and man- agement, forensics and data cleansing. All necessary data need to be backed up and validated thereafter to ensure that the backups are virus-free, followed by putting the data into mutable storage so no virus can reach it later. Mills adds that data recovery “is the most reliable strat- egy available today to avoid data loss, corruption and excessive ransomware fees.” Though the goal of cyber-securi- ty is to prevent data breaches, Mills says “most savvy security professionals have shifted their mindset from ‘prevention is the best medicine’ to a ‘prevention plus recovery’ strategy.” Therefore, compa- nies can be better prepared should a data breach occur, even if there is only a small possibility. Kyndryl recommends that companies adopt an “avoid and control strategy,” says Mills, which includes a combination of preventative and responsive tech- nologies. She adds that Kyndryl also recommends that businesses employ cyber-resilience services and cyber-re- covery services. These tools facilitate the implementation of avoidance tech- nologies, data cleansing and recovery. The means are available for supply chains to prepare themselves for at- tempted cyber-attacks. However, it is up to the management to decide what level of importance is placed on their cyber-security. Accepting that cyber- attacks are a likely occurrence and actively planning on paying a ransom when it happens is not a viable solution, says Mills. “History has shown that even when paying the ransom, cyber-crimi- nals are not likely to give you cleansed, uncorrupted data, and they will like- ly also attempt to sell your data to third parties,” she explains. “Kyndryl does not recommend this strategy.” A new era of doing business requires new methods of protecting personal and company information. When cy- ber-security is given the proper time and attention, supply chains can prop- erly use all the necessary tools to avoid having to pay the ransom. SUPPLY CHAIN CANADA • ISSUE 2 2022 • 11
