Minimizing Cyber Supply Chain Risks through Effective Vendor Selection


Posted By: Ryan Richardson - 2/7/2023 12:00:00 AM

In today's interconnected world, companies rely on a vast array of vendors and suppliers to support their business operations. While this supply chain is critical to business success, it also presents an inherent risk. Cybersecurity threats are increasingly prevalent and sophisticated, and vendors can provide an entry point for attackers to compromise a company's sensitive information.

To minimize these risks, companies must pay close attention to vendor selection and management. In this blog, we will discuss the steps that organizations can take to effectively manage vendor risk and protect their clients' data, and how an IT partner like runbiz™ can help you make this a reality.

  1. Conduct Due Diligence

Before engaging a vendor, it is critical to conduct due diligence to evaluate their cybersecurity practices. This includes reviewing their security policies and procedures, assessing their risk management processes, and verifying their compliance with applicable regulations and standards. Companies should also investigate the vendor's security incident history, such as any previous data breaches or cyber attacks.

  1. Establish Security Requirements

Once a vendor has been selected, companies should establish security requirements and expectations in the contract. These requirements should outline specific security measures that the vendor must implement, such as regular security assessments, intrusion detection and prevention systems, and employee training on cybersecurity best practices.

  1. Monitor Vendor Performance

Companies must also regularly monitor their vendors' performance to ensure that they are meeting security requirements and adequately protecting sensitive data. This can include conducting security audits and assessments, reviewing security incident reports, and assessing the vendor's overall security posture.

  1. Develop Incident Response Plans

Despite best efforts to prevent cyber attacks, incidents may still occur. IT services providers must work with their clients and vendors to develop a comprehensive incident response plan that outlines the steps to take in the event of a security breach. This includes identifying the point of contact, outlining response procedures, and documenting communication protocols.

  1. Implement Cybersecurity Best Practices

Finally, companies must implement cybersecurity best practices across their entire organization to minimize risk. This includes training employees on safe browsing habits, implementing multi-factor authentication, and regularly backing up data to prevent data loss.

In conclusion, effective vendor selection is critical to minimizing cyber supply chain risks. Your team must conduct due diligence, establish security requirements, monitor vendor performance, develop incident response plans, and implement cybersecurity best practices to ensure that their clients' sensitive data is adequately protected. By taking these steps, companies can help mitigate the risks associated with their supply chain and safeguard their business operations. If you need help from a team who has experience managing these risks and implementing best practices, contact us today. 

You can also download our checklist titled "Manage Supply Chain Risks With These Strategies" to start implementing effective strategies right away. 

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Run Business Solutions is an IT Managed Services and Website Services provider based in Amarillo, TX. Since 2007, we’ve supported small to mid-sized businesses both regionally and throughout the country. We pride ourselves in helping businesses leverage technology, not just tolerate it. Runbiz is focused on enthusiastically providing excellent technical strategy, services, and solutions that drive our customers' businesses forward. We are passionate about our mission to empower people to do what they do well. To learn more about our approach to IT, visit our Managed IT or Co-Managed IT pages. If you are looking to revamp your website to look and perform better, visit our Website Services page for more information. CULTURE AND CORE Teamwork is the bedrock of the runbiz™ culture. We believe that every team player is what makes Runbiz successful. Our culture and core values are what set us apart. We must be a group of exceptional team players if we are to be an exceptional company. We believe in empowering our team, not only with the tools necessary to get the job done, but also with the confidence and freedom to do the right thing for our customers and teammates. We each understand the essence of our roles, we are motivated by empowering people to do what they do well and have clarity on how to play a part in the vision. We strive to live out the following core values daily: Kindness – We are caring, respectful, and patient. Integrity – We are honest, dependable and we do the right thing. Excellence – We are learning, improving, and exceeding expectations. Servant Heart – We are humble, helpful, and positive. Teamwork – We are team players and playing to win. You website can be a powerful tool for your business. However, if your potential customers cannot find it or cannot find the information they are looking for on it, they will likely return to Google and find another site that provides what they are looking for. We offer you the tools to take control of your website's content. Ensure your placement in Google's ranking and increase your leads and conversions by keeping your content up to date and relevant with runCMS. runCMS does not rely on third party plugins that are prone to breakage. Instead, it is actively developed, hosted, and supported by the friendly and experienced staff at Run Business Solutions. That means that you don't need to worry about dealing with hard-to-reach, unreliable web hosting companies. runCMS is powerful and easy to use. We would love to show you how it works. Powerful Tools RunIT CMS gives users powerful and easy to use tools to make managing website content easy. These tools are managed independently and the pages update automatically. This reduces (if not eliminates) the need to use third-party tools to accomplish goals. However, RunIT CMS allows for complete integration with custom CSS and JavaScript. Galleries A Gallery is a collection of images. RunIT CMS gives users the ability to create multiple Galleries. Users can upload and re-size image and add them to a Gallery. Images can be re-ordered, deactivated and given a hyperlink. ALT tags are fully accessible. Galleries can be added to pages as thumbnails, slideshows, or thumbnail slideshows. The slideshow is powered by the Nivo Slider by Dev7studios. Libraries A Library is a collection of Resources. A Resource is a file with a Title and Description. A Library could be seen as a collection of files made available on a website with a title and description. Library Resources can have an expiration date added which will cause them to no longer appear on the website when the expiration date passes. Libraries can be added to pages as simple lists of Titles that are download links or as tables with the Title, Description, File Name, and a Download button. Library downloads are tracked and are reported in the Analytics Dashboard. Blogs Blogs are a great way for users to publish fresh content to the world. RunIT CMS includes a Blog tool with Categories. Blog Posts can have a cover photo, can be deactivated, and are edited with the Custom Content Editor. Blog Posts have an optional expiration date. All non-expired, active Blog Posts are added to the site's automatically generated sitemap.xml file and the site's RSS feed. Blog Posts can integrate with Calendar events, allowing users to create a blog post and a Calendar Event at the same time. Calendars No full-featured CMS is complete without a calendar. The RunIT CMS Calendar tool allows users to create multiple calendars, each having a name and a custom color. Events can easily be added to a Calendar. Events have a Title, Description, Start Date/Time, End Date/Time, option for All Day Event, Reminder Date/Time, and RSVP Required. The Calendar displays on the page as either a calendar or a list of events, each being hyperlinks that open details about the event. If RSVP Required is selected, the event details will allow users to RSVP. RunIT CMS Custom Content Editors are present throughout the system. They are WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editors that allow for content to be added and formatted in a Microsoft Word like manner. Our editor is one of the best on the market. RunIT CMS Custom Content Editor Toolbox The Custom Content Editors include a wide array of features for formatting text, pasting from Word, and pasting as HTML. Users can apply a CSS class from the site.css file to images and text. There is a full multi-level undo/redo mechanism with action trails like Microsoft Word. The editor includes a spell checker, find and replace tool, and a table builder. The editor also includes a powerful hyperlink manager, image manager, and document manager. The image manager allows users to edit images. The RunIT CMS Custom Content Editor produces clean, semantic HTML markup that users can view or edit with the click of a button. This allows for advanced users to embed videos, add custom scripts or styles, and generally take total control of how the HTML is going to look. Content Blocks There is no reason to repeat the same action (such as copying and pasting) to update multiple pages. No one enjoys manually updating each page of a website in order to update a hyperlink or an image. It is our goal to eliminate duplicate work when it comes to editing web content. That's what Content Blocks are all about. A content block is a piece of formatted content that can be added to pages and updated in one place. Content Blocks are edited with the Custom Content Editors, giving users complete control over the formatting (and advanced users control over the actual HTML). An example of a use case for a Content Block is a navigation sub-menu that exists in a subset of pages. Another example is a YouTube video that needs to be displayed on many pages and is subject to change. Site Layout Users have complete control over the way their websites look. Everything contained in the tag is editable using a Custom Content Editor. The system includes several macros for the purpose of adding the site navigation and page content in any place desired. There are also macros to get the site root, the current date/time, and to add CMS tools to the layout.know your purpose. We take the time to understand who you are as an organization to determine how we can best serve you. Our goal is that the products and services we offer, allow you to thrive in that purpose. empower your people. In order for your organization to reach it’s maximum operational potential, you need the right tools. Technology is always changing, and we stay ahead of the curve to empower your people with best products and support to reach your objectives safely and efficiently. run your business By implementing best practices and our extensive specialized knowledge, we free you up to focus on what you do best. We eliminate costly, unnecessary distractions and downtime, giving you the predictability and confidence you need to run your business.