Security Enhancement of Third Parties Is Needed in Global Supply Chain Management

Abstract Incident reports show the high risk of losing trust in global supply chain management. Under the covid-19 pandemic, cloud-based global supply chains have been vulnerable to malicious attacks. The goal of this paper is to show the high risk caused by third-party access in the current global supply chains and how to mitigate it. Based on the incident reports, global supply chain leaders are unaware of the risks of third-party access. The current global supply chains must be transformed into robust and resilient systems against malicious attacks. This paper shows methods on how to mitigate the high-security risk. HIGHLIGHTS Incident reports show the high risk of losing trust in global supply chain management against malicious attacks. The high risk caused by third-party access in the current global supply chains will be illustrated. Global supply chain leaders are unaware of the risks of third-party access. The global supply chains must be transformed into robust systems. This paper shows methods on how to mitigate the high-security risk in third-party logistics. The lower the risk, the lower the chance of losing trust. The more a leader is aware of the high risks, the less likely he or she is to lose trust.