Research Overview

At the end of 2020, FireEye discovered malware distributed through software updates to the Orion Platform, a popular IT management product. SolarWinds, the platform supplier, was breached earlier that year and failed to detect hackers in its environment for several months. Because of the widespread usage of the SolarWinds software, victims of this attack include thousands of high-profile businesses, governments, and law enforcement agencies.

Large-scale data breaches brought to light security considerations of the increasing reliance on third-party technology and services. Because of that, there are growing calls for solutions and strategies that could help organizations mitigate risk stemming from reliance on digital supply chains. Although there is a wide range of solutions that can improve organizations' security posture, the industry lacks a dedicated and comprehensive supply chain security solution.

In addition, vendors often fail to communicate how point solutions can help organizations address supply chain risk. Chief information security officers (CISOs) do not know where to begin their risk mitigation efforts and what technology they can use. Most organizations will need to leverage a combination of in-house expertise, open-source resources, and commercial technology. Given the growing importance of the topic, Frost & Sullivan developed five-step guidance for growing the resilience of supply chains.