Supply chain attacks

In the realm of cybersecurity, the emergence of supply chain attacks presents a significant concern for businesses. This form of attack follows a two- step process first, the attacker compromises a supplier, exercising their access to launch an attack on the ultimate target with the thing of seizing control over it coffers.

Whether targeting end consumers or other suppliers within the chain, an incident qualifies as a supply chain attack only when both the supplier and the client are affected. This underscores the complex and connected nature of digital pitfalls and emphasizes the need for alert across all situations of the supply chain to ensure robust security.

These attacks are particularly insidious because they exploit the established trust between associations and their suppliers, posing significant challenges in terms of discovery and mitigation. The attack techniques refer to "how" the attack took place, and not "what" was used to attack. For instance, this category discerns whether the supplier faced an attack where the password was obtained online (OSINT) or if it was subjected to a brute-force attack. However, it is not relevant for the taxonomy whether the password found online was leaked, a default password or sold in a black market.

The Attack Techniques categories listed below encompass the most frequently employed methods in the analyzed supply chain attacks. It's clear that multiple techniques might have been employed in each attack, and in some instances, entities may lack knowledge regarding how attackers accessed their infrastructure, or such information wasn't disclosed or properly reported.

Sources of Supply Chain Attacks

In the maze of supply chain vulnerabilities, adversaries frequently exploit familiar routes similar as marketable software, open - source supply chains, and foreign products to carry their attacks.

Attack Ways Used to Compromise a Supply Chain

1. Malware Infection - A type of spyware designed to pilfer credentials from employees.
2. Social Engineering - Phishing, counterfeit applications, typo-squatting, Wi-Fi spoofing, and persuading suppliers to take certain actions.
3. Brute-Force Attack - Guessing an SSH password, guessing a web login.
4. Exploiting Software Vulnerability - SQL injection or buffer overflow exploit in an application.
5. Exploiting Configuration Vulnerability - Taking advantage of a configuration problem.
6. Physical Attack or Modification - Alter hardware, physical breach.
7. Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) - Look up credentials, API keys, and usernames online.
8. Counterfeiting - Counterfeit USB devices designed for malicious intent.

Customer assets targeted by a supply chain attack

1. Data - Payment data, video feeds, documents, emails, flight plans, sales data and financial data, intellectual property.
2. Personal Data - Customer data, employee records, credentials.
3. Software - Access to the customer product source code, modification of the software of the customer.
4. Processes - Documentation of internal processes of operation and configurations, insertion of new malicious oricesses, documents of schematics.
5. Bandwidth - Use the bandwidth for Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS), send SPAM or to infect others on a large scale.
6. Financial - Steal crytocurrency, hijack bank accounts, money transfers.
7. People - Individuals targeted due to their position or knowledge.

Examples of recent supply chain attacks

1. SiSense( April 2024)
2. Okta (October 2023)
3. JetBrains (September/ October 2023)
4. MOVEit (June 2023)
5. GitHub OAuth Tokens Attack (April 2023)
6. 3CX (March 2023)

To manage supply chain cybersecurity threat, guests should:

• Identify and validate the various types of suppliers and service providers involved in supply chain ecosystem.
• Establish clear threat criteria acclimatized to dierent supplier and service types. This includes assessing critical dependences similar as supplier- client connections, essential software dependences, and implicit single points of failure.
• Conduct comprehensive assessments of force chain pitfalls in alignment with their own business durability impact assessments and specific conditions.
• Apply measures for threat mitigation grounded on assiduity stylish practices and established norms.
• Continuously cover supply chain pitfalls and pitfalls by using both internal and external sources of information. This includes regular evaluations of supplier performance and reviews to identify implicit vulnerabilities.
• Foster a culture of mindfulness among labor supply regarding force chain cybersecurity pitfalls, icing that all applicable stakeholders are informed and watchful.

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