The Growing Cyber Risk in Interconnected Supply Chains
The British Standards Institution explores how cyber incidents highlight weaknesses in interconnected supply chains and what leaders can do next.
Supply chains have become one of the most significant drivers of cyber risk across the UK economy. Incidents across retail, aviation, manufacturing, and critical infrastructure show how disruption can spread rapidly beyond a single organization.
Jaguar Land Rover, M&S, Heathrow and the Co-op are among hundreds of organizations impacted last year, with reported losses running into hundreds of millions. These disruptions underline how quickly a single breach can spread across sectors, affecting thousands of suppliers, partners, and customers.
These events raise uncomfortable questions for everyone involved. For individuals: Is my data safe? For business leaders: Could we be next?
In many cases, third-party providers hold critical operational or customer data. When a weakness emerged within a shared service or vendor platform, the disruption travelled far beyond the original targets. We’re seeing in real time how SMEs, niche suppliers, and downstream partners often feel the most severe aftershocks.
Small errors, major fallout
Earlier incidents illustrate how both human error and sophisticated attacks can halt operations at scale. Ransomware, misconfigurations, compromised shared platforms, and prolonged outages have caused significant financial losses and supply-chain disruption.
It doesn’t take a direct attack to bring a business to a standstill. When one link in a complex chain fails, the ripple effects can spread across industries - delaying shipments, grounding services, and halting production. Even seemingly minor failures can cascade quickly when organizations rely on connected ecosystems.
Digital trust under pressure
Human error remains one of the leading contributors to security incidents, with studies indicating it accounts for more than 60% of breaches. A single misdirected email, missed patch, or successful phishing attempt can trigger consequences affecting thousands of customers.
At the same time, emerging threats such as AI-driven impersonation attacks, deep-fake-enabled social engineering, and identity spoofing are making it harder for employees to distinguish legitimate requests from fraudulent ones.
The financial cost of a breach represents only part of the impact. When an organization loses digital trust, it damages its reputation long after it restores its systems. As cyber incidents dominate headlines, consumers are becoming more cautious about sharing personal data or transacting online.
Organizations that treat cyber resilience as a strategic capability rather than a compliance exercise are better positioned to maintain trust, protect operations, and respond quickly to disruption.
Building resilience through trusted frameworks
Strong and widely recognized standards provide a clear foundation for long-term resilience. Information security and business continuity must work hand in hand to help organizations prepare for, withstand, and recover from disruption.
ISO/IEC 27001, Information Security Management, helps organizations manage evolving security risks and embed a culture of data protection.
ISO 22301, Business Continuity Management, supports organizations in maintaining essential operations during disruption and recovering rapidly while sustaining stakeholder confidence.
Together, these frameworks provide structure, clarity, and assurance as leaders address increasingly complex and interconnected risk environments.
Three priorities for leaders
To strengthen resilience across the sector, organizations should focus on:
1. Investing in standards and training
Embedding recognised frameworks and providing regular training ensures teams become a stronger first line of defence.
2. Mapping supply-chain risks
Understanding dependencies, identifying high-risk suppliers, and ensuring third parties meet appropriate security expectations are critical in preventing systemic disruption.
3. Building a culture of resilience
Make security a shared responsibility. Encourage transparency, reward secure behaviours, and embed cyber considerations into strategic and operational decision-making.
By learning from recent disruptions and acting proactively, organizations can build stronger, more resilient supply chains and reinforce digital trust. The cost of inaction is far greater than the investment required to strengthen resilience today.
Strengthen your digital trust strategy with recognised global standards. Explore certifications and training at: bsigroup.com.
You can catch up on techUK's webinar looking at how industry can achieve ISO/IEC 27001 certification here: https://www.techuk.org/resource/event-round-up-understanding-and-achieving-iso-iec-27001.html.
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Meet the team
Jill Broom
Head of Cyber Resilience, techUK
Jill leads the techUK Cyber Resilience programme, having originally joined techUK in October 2020 as a Programme Manager for the Cyber and Central Government programmes. She is responsible for managing techUK's work across the cyber security ecosystem, bringing industry together with key stakeholders across the public and private sectors. Jill also provides the industry secretariat for the Cyber Growth Partnership, the industry and government conduit for supporting the growth of the sector. A key focus of her work is to strengthen the public–private partnership across cyber to support further development of UK cyber security and resilience policy.
Before joining techUK, Jill worked as a Senior Caseworker for an MP, advocating for local communities, businesses and individuals, so she is particularly committed to techUK’s vision of harnessing the power of technology to improve people’s lives. Jill is also an experienced editorial professional and has delivered copyediting and writing services for public-body and SME clients as well as publishers.
- Email:
- [email protected]
- Website:
- www.techuk.org/
- LinkedIn:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/jill-broom-19aa824
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Annie Collings
Senior Programme Manager, Cyber Resilience, techUK
Annie is the Programme Manager for Cyber Resilience at techUK. She first joined as the Programme Manager for Cyber Security and Central Government in September 2023.
In her role, Annie supports the Cyber Security SME Forum, engaging regularly with key government and industry stakeholders to advance the growth and development of SMEs in the cyber sector. Annie also coordinates events, engages with policy makers and represents techUK at a number of cyber security events.
Before joining techUK, Annie was an Account Manager at a specialist healthcare agency, where she provided public affairs support to a wide range of medical technology clients. She also gained experience as an intern in both an MP’s constituency office and with the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed. Annie holds a degree in International Relations from Nottingham Trent University.
- Email:
- [email protected]
- Twitter:
- anniecollings24
- LinkedIn:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/annie-collings-270150158/
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Olivia Staples
Junior Programme Manager - Cyber Resilience, techUK
Olivia Staples joined techUK in May 2025 as a Junior Programme Manager in the Cyber Resilience team.
She supports the programs mission to promote cyber resilience by engaging key commercial and government stakeholders to shape the cyber resilience policy towards increased security and industry growth. Olivia assists in member engagement, event facilitation and communications support.
Before joining techUK, Olivia gained experience in research, advocacy, and strategic communications across several international organisations. At the Munich Security Conference, she supported stakeholder engagement and contributed to strategic communications. She also worked closely with local and national government stakeholders in Spain and Italy, where she was involved in policy monitoring and advocacy for both public and private sector clients.
Olivia holds an MSc in Political Science (Comparative Politics and Conflict Studies) from the London School of Economics (LSE) and a BA in Spanish and Latin American Studies from University College London (UCL).
Outside of tech, Olivia enjoys volunteering with local charities and learning Norwegian.
- Email:
- [email protected]
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