E-commerce has been booming since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, and holiday retail sales are expected to increase between 4% and 6% This year. Manufacturers, logistics companies and retail giants like Walmart face extraordinary pressures to meet online customer demands and maintain zero downtime. While keeping the warehouse safe from threats including OT hackers.
These factors have compelled many people to invest in automated logistics and smart warehouse technologies which are known to be more efficient than individual workers performing the same tasks. For example, a new Amazon robot might handle 1,000 items per hour. As such, digital transformation has accelerated and enabled rapid advancements in digital supply chain logistics, warehouse components, and tools.
The cyber risks of digitalization
Unfortunately, all of this modernization has resulted in greater complexity of geographically distributed warehouses as a critical part of supply chain logistics, as well as multi-vendor and multi-generational technologies opening up vulnerabilities in a threat landscape. increasingly dynamic. As SLA and KING are key drivers in smart warehouse operations, everything is connected; air spacing is no longer a feasible approach. And that makes it extremely difficult for teams to continuously map and understand their security posture.
Threat actors have identified this reality as a lucrative market at their fingertips; They are constantly looking for new ways to find and exploit security vulnerabilities and disrupt supply chain operations. Hackers have already carried out successful cyberattacks against some of the largest smart logistics and freight forwarding companies in the world. In some cases, operations had to be halted, resulting in disruptions, downtime, financial losses and regulatory disclosures to shareholders.
In December 2021, German company Hellman Worldwide Logistics, which has hundreds of offices and operations in 173 countries, was hit by a cyberattack that forced it to shut down its IT. The company’s refusal to pay for the ransomware demand resulted in a leak of 70.64 GB of documents, credentials, correspondence, agreements, orders, etc.
For another example, Expeditors, a Seattle-based global logistics company with more than 350 locations in 100 countries, was hit by a targeted cyberattack earlier this year that disrupted its global operating systems. The attack ultimately caused $60 million in damage.
Cyber risks inherent in warehouse management systems
Smart logistics and warehouse companies rely on integrators to streamline warehouse management systems (WMS) for their operations. A WMS is a software solution that provides visibility into enterprise inventory and manages supply chain fulfillment operations from the distribution center to the store shelf. It’s a must-have in today’s digital age.
However, integrators face several challenges that can create security vulnerabilities, including:
- Ensure seamless communication between the WMS and multiple technologies
- Overcome cybersecurity skills gaps: IT and operations teams are adept at building smart logistics systems and managing their massive databases, but face challenges in identifying digital assets, prioritizing risks appropriately and lack vulnerability management skills
- Ensure reliable and efficient operations: Network downtime and delays lead to lost revenue, impact supply chain security, and can affect brand integrity.
Keeping Smart Warehouses Safe
The company’s goal is to achieve zero downtime and ensure automation and robotic procedures operate seamlessly and reliably. This makes it a much better strategy for proactively assessing, managing, and mitigating cyber risk than reacting only after attacks have already occurred.
Whether you’re a smart logistics integrator, WMS provider, or smart warehouse provider, you need to lay the foundation for securing your operations. Here are my top recommendations:
- Maintain central continuous visibility of digital assets in monitored warehouses. This is critical to closing cybersecurity gaps, exposures, and vulnerabilities. Visibility is not just about asset inventory and vulnerabilities, it also includes visibility into unsecured communications such as unencrypted traffic between warehouse assets.
- Ensure IoT device management systems are patched and protected with complex passwords.
- Assess and identify network segmentation gaps. Smart warehouse networks must be divided into VLANs and communication between processes must pass through a firewall. Additionally, the firewall policy should be carefully reviewed to ensure that the allowed connection between the environment and IT/Internet is properly enforced.
- Process data internally while providing controlled visibility to customers.
- Continuously analyze risks that may impact security controls and industrial systems to ensure that the OT driving warehouse functions is secure and reliable 24/7.
Conclusion
To ensure a smooth flow of goods and prepare for this year’s peak holiday season, organizations need to optimize warehouse operations for speed, efficiency, accuracy, and cybersecurity. Using these strategies to streamline smart warehouse environments will provide peace of mind against attacks, even during peak demand during the holidays.
As a bonus, these operational changes result in a best-in-class customer experience that drives brand loyalty, generates positive customer feedback, helps drive business growth and improves bottom line long after the holidays are over. .
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