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SAIC released a white paper today that tackles cybersecurity, now a presidential imperative, by applying an innovative model drawing on the best practices from end-to-end supply chain management.
The paper, written with the University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business, is the culmination of a six-year effort and found that digital supply chains are as fragmented as physical supply chains were 15 years ago.
Short version:
- A digital supply chain requires “defense in depth,” a fully coordinated process of securing and hardening core systems during the build and deploy phases of the life cycle; as well as “defense in breadth,” securing the global web of customers, system integrators and suppliers.
- Visibility and coherence across the cyber supply chain are necessary for orchestration and synchronization of security efforts.
- Structured incentives and relationship drivers to facilitate management of shared risk are sorely needed.
- Lack of communication between the cyber and physical supply chain hamstrings advancement.
- Organizations operate under the misapprehension that they are the terminus in the cyber supply chain and do not recognize the need for accountability within all internal function areas, as well as among all suppliers, customers and partners.
The project was funded by SAIC’s Strategic University Alliances initiative, focusing on campus activities in support of the company’s strategic goals, like strengthening the science and technology core of SAIC. The next stage of research will focus on field work with public and private organizations to validate the reference model.
With cybersecurity now a presidentially mandated priority, the government is expected to work closely with the private sector to secure U.S. networks from future attacks.
