We talk endlessly about supply chain visibility. But there is another form of supply chain visibility that perhaps deserves rather more attention: how exposed is your supply chain to cyber attack?
A new survey highlighted on logisticsbusiness.com recently makes for uncomfortable reading. Only 55% of businesses say they actively monitor cyber and technology risks across their supply chains. That seems remarkably low at a time when so much of logistics depends on interconnected digital systems.
The consequences of getting this wrong were demonstrated rather spectacularly last year. Marks & Spencer’s well-documented cyber attack in April 2025 caused widespread disruption, including the suspension of online orders. The company’s digital operations were badly affected for weeks, with the retailer eventually restoring online ordering only in June. M&S subsequently confirmed that some customer personal data had been taken, although payment details and passwords were not compromised. Arguably the reputational damage this caused will haunt them for much longer.
The Co-op suffered a cyber attack around the same time. Whilst its response was more contained, it still had to shut down parts of its IT infrastructure as a precaution. The disruption affected systems including stock monitoring and virtual desktops, with knock-on implications for the support of its stores and wider operations. Its food stores and home delivery services continued to operate, but the incident demonstrated just how quickly a cyber problem can become an operational problem.
And this is where I think the logistics industry needs to pay particular attention. Logistics companies routinely hand over sensitive information to third parties because they have to. Carriers need shipment details. Warehouse operators need inventory data. 3PLs need customer and order information.
Technology providers need access to operational systems. Visibility platforms, telematics, WMS, TMS, APIs and cloud services all create connections between organisations that are enormously valuable operationally – but potentially valuable to an attacker too.
The industry also has an awkward dependency simply cannot be overlooked: we rely more and more on connected digital systems to keep physical goods moving. The answer, of course, isn’t to stop connecting systems – as digital integration is fundamental to building the efficient, visible and responsive supply chains that businesses now expect.
But it does mean that cybersecurity should no longer be ignored, or simply regarded as somebody else’s problem. If your operation depends on a network of suppliers and technology partners, their security and not just your own is part of your resilience.
Incidentally, we’ve been rather busy these past few days putting the finishing touches to the August edition of Logistics Business magazine. The digital edition is live on our website now, while the print edition will be posted to subscribers over the next few days. As always, there is a heck of a lot of exclusive content in it – interviews, analysis and plenty of original insight that you won’t find anywhere else – and I’m particularly proud of this issue. It’s full of knowledge that can help your business run smarter and bring you competitive advantage.
But, to bring it all back to cyber security, always remember that there is little point building the world’s most optimised supply chain if someone else can simply switch it off.
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