Tag Archive for: supply
Supply Chain Cyber Risk from Russia Ukraine War
The current geopolitical climate and escalating crisis in Ukraine are amplifying concerns about the increased cyber threat to global supply chains that are already strained by the COVID-19 pandemic. This is perhaps the first time in history that the threat of cyber warfare is potentially just as devastating as the physical battle taking place on the ground. Government officials are cautioning organizations to be prepared for an increase in cyber-attacks on businesses and critical infrastructure.
Last year, cyber threats on global supply chains were in the spotlight following the unprecedented cyber-attacks on Colonial Pipeline, JBS, and SolarWinds, attacks that had far-reaching consequences for downstream businesses, customers, and individual consumers.
Background
In May 2021, Colonial Pipeline was the victim of a ransomware attack that forced the company to abruptly shut down the pipeline and suspend all operations for the first time in its history. This led to an immediate disruption in the nation’s fuel supply along the Eastern Seaboard, causing shortages and spikes in the price of gas. Later that month, a ransomware attack targeted JBS, one of the largest meat producers in the world, and forced the company to temporarily shutter its U.S. facilities, which supply 23 percent of the nation’s beef.
According to various sources, both attacks were perpetrated by cybercriminals (REvil and DarkSide) with ties to Russia, although White House officials stopped short of declaring these attacks to be state-sponsored. In the case of JBS, law enforcement was successful in shutting down the bad actors and recovering $2.3 million of the $4.3 million ransom paid by JBS.
In April 2021, the New York Department of Financial Services (NY DFS) issued a Report on the SolarWinds cyber-attack..1 According to NY DFS, the SolarWinds attack was attributed to a sophisticated cyber espionage campaign by Russian Foreign Intelligence Services actors. SolarWinds saw signs of hackers about eight months earlier than the disclosed timeline and nearly two years before anyone discovered the breach.
SolarWinds is a software company with more than 320,000 customers including government,…
A new crop of shopping tools aims to help consumers beat the supply chain crunch
“I’ve never been a gambler, but I can absolutely say there’s a thrill to getting something that you know seconds later will be gone,” he said. “It’s almost indescribable. It’s the opposite of FOMO [the fear of missing out]. There’s a huge dose of serotonin the second you get that ‘order completed’ screen.”
Where people once fought over luxuries like concert tickets and Supreme drops, now they’re fighting for household essentials and medical supplies. The grayed-out “purchase” button on websites everywhere is emblematic of a consumer era when virtually everything is at our fingertips, but also perpetually just out of reach.
In response, a small but dedicated community of programmers, journalists and social media content creators has sprung up to announce whenever a retailer such as Amazon or Walmart have restocked, or “dropped,” more product. Over the course of the pandemic, these stock hunters have devised ever more sophisticated methods for learning about impending drops earlier and earlier — and for notifying what has become a loyal following numbering in the hundreds of thousands for some accounts.
Demand for their services is so high, some have transformed stock-hunting into a full-time job, earning a bit of cash every time a user clicks an alert or pays for a subscription feature. Every in-stock notification acts as a dinner bell ringing across the internet, prompting a mad scramble as shoppers try to shave precious seconds off their efforts to secure a Covid test, a game console or a popular children’s toy. For many, it’s even become its own form of entertainment.
“Just getting the gaming console is kind of a game in itself,” said Marc Holgate, founder of the tracking app HotStock.io.
As long as supplies remain tight, the incentive for shoppers to turn to these tools will continue to grow. And the more people flock to these tools, the harder it may become for other shoppers to avoid using them for fear of missing out on an important shopping advantage.
The rise of professional stock hunters
What many widely followed stock hunters have in common is that they began as ordinary consumers themselves, looking for a coveted item.
Matt Swider, a New York-based technology…
