Sony, Target, Staples, Home Depot and JPMorgan Chase all know a thing or two about the negative fallout of a cyberattack. These companies were all hacked in 2015, leaving the intellectual property compromised and their customers’ sensitive information at risk.

Many of these companies were hacked through exposures within their supply chains. So what are the consequences to supply chain failure that can leave your company vulnerable to hackers looking to steal your vital information?

Financial exposure

If your provider’s supply chain is breached due to a lack of security, your customer data and sensitive product and corporate information can be stolen, leading to massive legal and financial expenses that could cost you millions of dollars. Your company can be sued by customers and employees for damages if their personal information was compromised. There are also fines that can be imposed for mishandling financial and health-care records.

Loss of intellectual property

Your suppliers have access to your intellectual property. A gap in security protocols could expose your competitive secrets to the world. Customer lists, business plans, financial records, marketing initiatives and email records are all mission-critical. Losing that data, having it corrupted or having it slip into the hands of a competitor could cripple your organization.

Brand and reputation corruption

A hacker who gets hold of your sensitive information can wreak havoc on your brand by taking down websites, posting false information and emailing your customer base with phishing scams, to name a few. Customer trust takes time to build and a breach can cause a major setback that results in lost costumers who never return, costing you long-term revenue losses and reduced market share.

Lost stakeholder confidence

Investors, partners and shareholders have all staked a claim in your success. A hack that leaves your business vulnerable or puts these high-level influencers at risk can cause these partners to pull up stakes if they don’t think you have a secure approach to your operations.

Interruption of business operations

A supply chain hack that leads to product tampering poses the risk that that product will fail to deliver the reliability expected. If the computers you ordered are tampered with, they can fail at any time, leaving your business without the systems it needs to perform work. Computers infected with Trojan horses, spyware or other malicious code can cause networks and mission-critical operations to go down, with business as usual being suspended until repairs can be made.

Supply chain risk management that protects you from hackers begins and ends with a strong and secure chain of custody. Learn more and discover how CyberCore delivers computers, workstations and laptops with a secure supply chain that protects your business from a risky purchase.