Musings of a Chief Technology Officer in Supply Chain Logistics

Our Journey to Zero Trust Security

As a Chief Technology Officer in supply chain logistics, and considering the topic of zero trust, the security of both our data and our clients’ data is always top of my mind.

What’s also top of mind is how to balance that security with business practicality. In a mission-critical service logistics business, the last thing we want is to create security protocols or procedures that inhibit our employees and partners from being able to successfully perform the services we are contracted to perform.

In our world, this is a very hot topic as every day we are moving service parts, products and information across multiple locations, often with multiple partners and vendors involved. As a logistics provider implementing zero trust, there are many ways that one can consider applying it. Below are some of the considerations we evaluated and implemented:

• Access control: Validating all access requests, including those from employees, vendors, and partners, before granting access to systems, networks, and data.
• Network segmentation: Segmenting networks, with different access controls and security measures applied to each segment, to reduce the risk of lateral movement by cybercriminals.
• Identity and access management: Strong authentication and authorization measures, such as multi-factor authentication, ensures that only authorized users have access to systems and data.
• Data protection: Encrypting data both in transit and at rest, and access to sensitive data is restricted to authorized personnel.
• Monitoring and detection: Continuous monitoring of systems, networks, and data to detect any potential threats or anomalies and respond to them in a timely manner.

By implementing a zero-trust approach in logistics, organizations can significantly reduce the risk of cyber-attacks, data breaches, and other security incidents, while ensuring the secure and efficient movement of goods and information.

This implementation positively impacts the logistics company, as well as each OEM served by keeping the information shared between both entities safe. This is why, as an OEM, choosing a supply chain solution that takes the security of its digital infrastructure seriously is vital.

At Flash Global, we understand we are a branch of each OEM we serve. If our own security is not heightened, we put not only our business at risk but each organization we serve. This is why zero-trust architectures have been implemented – to provide a secure, transparent, and predictable supply chain solution.