Weaponizing the Global Supply Chain

For most of 2024 the supply chain concern was focused on industrial espionage and forms of unauthorized substitution or alteration of products. While this carries risk to companies concerning intellectual property and product integrity, that risk has been mostly viewed by the industry as within the level of risk acceptance. The legal and regulatory concerns, especially within the politically gridlocked U.S. legislative body, has been largely nonexistent except in a few cases of government contracting.

While the U.S. government has been gridlocked in bureaucracy and political division, the EU body has been aggressive at addressing supply chain issues and the impact that they have on the rights of their member body citizens. This began with the adoption of the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) targeting social responsibility within the supply chain, followed by the European Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) addressing cybersecurity requirements for hardware and software products with digital elements.

These legal additions add significant impact in the same means and methods that altered the worlds operations when the impact of the E.U. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was seen globally. This strengthening of consumer protections addresses a significant gap in supply chain protections from threat actors targeting consumers as well as adding corporate responsibility requirements and penalties.

On September 17th, 2024, the world was abruptly introduced to a new aspect of supply chain security, the threat of nation state actors, and the weaponization of the global supply chain. Nation state espionage was a concern for governments surrounding national security interests, but it has always been the protection of critical data. The direct malicious injection of explosives and weaponized technology into multiple areas of the global supply chain along with the knowledge of compromise of logistics, from the ordering process through shipping and final delivery, casts a sobering perspective on the state of the supply chain where nation state actors are concerned.

Now that pandora's box has been opened on the global stage, and nations and groups with political or ideological agendas have seen the possibility and impact, does this signal the start of a race to see who can create the most disruption and impact from direct supply chain subversion and attack. If a single device were to impact a U.S. or E.U. citizen, what would be the global response from both the population and governments. Are corporations prepared to protect their customers against terrorism and nation state acts.