The Supply Chain Buzz is Supply Chain Now’s regular Monday livestream, held at 12n ET each week. This show focuses on some of the leading stories from global supply chain and global business, always with special guests – the most important of which is the live audience!

In this special Digital Transformers edition of the Buzz, host Kevin L. Jackson joins regular host Scott Luton to discuss a variety of news and developments across global business- with an extra helping of all things technology AND cybersecurity as we recognize the month of October as Cybersecurity Awareness month!

Listen in and learn more about:

1. How new orders, shrinking backlogs, and increases in factory employment translate to near recovery for the US Manufacturing sector
2. Lego, the world’s largest toy manufacturer, and its $1.4 billion pledge to reduce carbon emissions across its supply chain by 2025
3. The re-evaluation of the phrase “supply chain”
4. In honor of Cybersecurity Awareness Month, how all the digital transformation around the globe can open up organizations to new vulnerabilities

Intro/Outro (00:03):

Welcome to Supply Chain. Now, the voice of Global Supply Chain Supply chain now focuses on the best in the business for our worldwide audience, the people, the technologies, the best practices, and today’s critical issues, the challenges and opportunities. Stay tuned to hear from Those Making Global Business Happen right here on supply chain now.

Scott Luton (00:31):

Hey, hey. Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you are, Scott Luton and Kevin L. Jackson with you here on Supply Chain. Now, welcome to today’s live stream, Kevin. How you doing today,

Kevin L. Jackson (00:42):

Man? I’m doing great. How else could I feel? It’s the second Monday of the month. <laugh>. It’s digital Transformers, buzz,

Scott Luton (00:50):

<laugh>, <laugh>, man. Okay, so whenever this Hollywood thing doesn’t work out anymore for you, Kevin <laugh>, you Can do voiceovers For the Monster Truck Show coming to a city near you, right?

Kevin L. Jackson (01:02):

Yes, absolutely. It’s the buzz <laugh>.

Scott Luton (01:06):

Wonderful. We need, we, we need that kind of energy here today, folks. We got a big show teed up. Lots of good news, lots of technology, lots of news you can use, and then some. It’s the special edition of the Supply Chain Buzz. It’s a digital Transformers edition of the Buzz here today. And as Kevin knows, and hopefully the rest of y’all, we’re gonna be discussing a variety of news and developments across global business with that extra helping of technology. So, you know, Kevin and I, we’ve got four stories and several resources to walk through. And Kevin, one last thing. For folks that may be listening to this replay, because we take this live stream and publish it as a, uh, audio podcast later in the week, what advice would you have to them? What should they do?

Kevin L. Jackson (01:47):

You know, first of all, we love you with the replay. Okay? Don’t, don’t, don’t stop looking at the replay. This is, that’s great. You can get your information. It’s, it’s when you are, you know, available. It, it, it fits your schedule. That’s, and that’s what the replay is all about. But there’s so much more you can do with the live, right? If you join us when we live, you can interact with our global audience. We get people here from India, Europe, south America, and that other country, uh, United States, <laugh>. Yeah. Yeah. We get people here from everywhere and, and it’s just the viewpoints that are so enlightening. That’s right. You know, when we have, uh, people in and, you know, so join us live. Like the crowd is here already. That’s Wow. That’s right. Look at all those peoples.

Scott Luton (02:40):

So Kevin, we got a lot to get into here today. I wanna make sure folks understand that October is cybersecurity awareness month, right? Mm-hmm.

Kevin L. Jackson (02:50):

<affirmative>.

Scott Luton (02:51):

So we’re gonna be talking a lot more about cyber as we always do, especially for the third story here today. But mark your calendars if you take any month, and it really needs to be all year round. But at the very least, if you can learn more about cyber in the month of October, that’d be a good thing, right, Kevin?

Kevin L. Jackson (03:07):

So, it makes me wonder why October Is this the ghost in goblins of cybersecurity out to get you <laugh>? I, I think

Scott Luton (03:16):

You’re onto something there. Gremlins, ghosts, goblins, all the

Kevin L. Jackson (03:20):

Jeans. Grim Reaper, the Cyber Grim Reaper is out to get you in October. So stay tuned. Your cybersecurity, be aware, protect yourself. All

Scott Luton (03:32):

Right. So, Kevin, we gotta get to work. You ready?

Kevin L. Jackson (03:34):

<laugh>? Oh, no, not to get to work. I’m having too much fun, <laugh>.

Scott Luton (03:38):

Alright, well let’s get into our first story here today, because I, we’re gonna start with some good news. It’s always good to start with good news. And, and Kevin, uh, also great to have you back on this second Monday of the month. So first off, the United Auto Workers appear to be making some progress mm-hmm. And negotiations with the big three automotive companies because Kevin, they’ve chosen not to expand the labor strikes last week for the first time since the strikes have began. So I’ll Take that as some good news.

Kevin L. Jackson (04:08):

They’re Talking.

Scott Luton (04:09):

Yeah, they’re talking and making some progress. Perhaps on a related note, the manufacturing industry in the US seems to have picked up a little pace in September. So Kevin, according to our forensic Reuters, the manufacturing industry in September, according to ISMS Manufacturing Index, showed its strongest activity since November, 2022. Now, while it still shows an overall contraction for the 11th month in a row, it is contracting at a little bit slower of a pace. Hey, we’ll take it and it’s really close. So, on that index 50 is like the line of demarcation. If you’re under 50, you’re contracting. If you’re over 50, you’re growing. I think they came in at 49 for the month of September. But a little more good news, I’m gonna get your take, Kevin, the US Department of Commerce release figures showing that the spend on the domestic construction market rose again in August for the eighth straight month. Now, with all of that good news, and I, and I’m gonna take that as good news, there’s still lots of debate whether or not the US economy hits a soft landing or something. A lot worse. We’ll see, Kevin, your thoughts up.

Kevin L. Jackson (05:12):

So last week we saw over 300,000 new jobs created mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So don’t get me wrong, I am all for everyone having a job, especially, you know, those kids and everything <laugh>. But that is one of the signs of an economy that’s expanding at an unsustainable rate. The other sign Is A rising rate of inflation, which we also see signs of. So, I mean, I, I I, I hope we can sort of ski in there on a like, nice soft landing. You know, that’s an, that’s an Air Force landing, <laugh>, you know.

Scott Luton (05:58):

Well, Let’s expound that a little bit more <laugh>, because it’s funny, when I was in the Air Force, whenever you saw pilots come straight down Yeah. Instead Of a nice long glide, it was, those were Navy pilots are used to having a certain amount of real estate.

Kevin L. Jackson (06:15):

Yes, yes.

Scott Luton (06:16):

But Kevin, a lot of folks may not know that you are a naval aviator. So when we’re talking soft landings or hard landings, I would assume any soft landing is is music to your ears, huh?

Kevin L. Jackson (06:26):

No. Look, look, you land hard on a carrier, <laugh>, and any landing is a good landing <laugh>,

Scott Luton (06:31):

I’m with you.

Kevin L. Jackson (06:31):

I have Over 200 traps and every one of them were nice and solid on that three wire beat.

Scott Luton (06:37):

Wow. <laugh>. It’s remarkable. We’re gonna have to have another view on the show of Veteran Voices and just talk about the training that enabled, just being able to, all that it takes to be able to land an aircraft on a pitching and rolling carrier deck out in the middle of the ocean. That is just remarkable to me. All right, last note then, Kevin, you’re talking about 300,000 jobs report that came out last week. That’s some good news. I’m no economist, thankfully I’m our audience probably celebrates that, but we’ll see. Yeah, I think some folks may take that soft landing based on earlier projections of where the economy was headed, huh? Yeah.

Kevin L. Jackson (07:10):

Yeah. I hope so. I’m, I mean, it’s, you know, everything is hard. <laugh> soft landings are hard and, uh, but let’s, let’s see if we can hit it.

Scott Luton (07:20):

Yeah, that’s right. Okay, moving ride along. This is an interesting story. Number two here about Legos. Did you play with Legos as a kid, Kevin? Oh

Kevin L. Jackson (07:28):

Yeah. I love Legos. I still play with Legos in fact, didn’t we? What was it that Theo just there a couple weeks ago we had Theo on.

Scott Luton (07:36):

Yes.

Kevin L. Jackson (07:36):

He had That big, uh, star Wars Millennium. Falcon Legos.

Scott Luton (07:41):

<laugh>. That’s right, man. You got a great memory. And my son loves Legos, but boy, the prices of these Legos. Hey, let’s, let’s talk about Legos from a supply chain perspective, perhaps Great read here from the folks over at the fashion law. Okay? Uh, now Lego, in case you’re keeping track at home, the world’s largest toy manufacturer, and it’s pledged some $1.4 billion to reduce carbon emissions across its global supply chain by 2025. Now, bottles two bricks was one neat project associated with the company sustainability initiative, where Lego was looking to, uh, make its Lego bricks like y’all see here in the picture out of recycled plastic bottles. But Kevin,

Kevin L. Jackson (08:22):

Okay

Scott Luton (08:23):

The company had a little bit of a, a eureka moment. It recently discovered that the bottles to bricks process, the manufacturing process would require a lot more extra materials and energy. Geez. Which would actually increase the company’s carbon emissions. No good deeded, right? <laugh>. Um, now as the article also includes, and I think it’s important for folks because you’re hearing these terms thrown out almost in every conversation, especially scope three. So I wanna walk through this Kevin, and I’ll get your comments here. Three basic types of emissions, right? Mm-hmm. <affirmative> scope one, are those emissions generated directly by the company’s facilities and operations, right? Very direct emissions.

Kevin L. Jackson (09:02):

Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Luton (09:03):

Scope two are those emissions caused by generating the energy that a company consumes. Think electricity or heating or cooling, you name it. Carbon

Kevin L. Jackson (09:12):

Based synergy. Yeah.

Scott Luton (09:13):

Yeah. Scope two. And now that brings us to scope three, which is talked about a ton and for good reason, scope three emissions are generated by an organization’s upstream and downstream supply chain suppliers, distributors, customers, the whole enchilada. Now, back to Lego, it’s been reported that 98% of the Lego companies carbon emissions are Scope three. Hmm. So, no wonder why we’re spending so much time on scope three. So big opportunities and soon requirements as regulations are increasing around the world. Kevin, your thoughts? So,

Kevin L. Jackson (09:46):

What this really brings to fore is the fact that everything is connected. Mm. Which Means that it’s critical to do everything in moderation. They always said, you can never have too much of a good thing.

Scott Luton (09:59):

Right.

Kevin L. Jackson (09:59):

That Is actually wrong. Right. Agree Too much. I agree with you. You drown <laugh>. So, so recycling is a great thing, but using more carbon sourced energy to recycle isn’t. Mm-hmm. So let’s all work to identify and maintain the appropriate balance. And, you know, I applaud Lego for actually, you know, listening. Clearly. They listen to someone who understand the whole value chain when it comes to emissions and, uh, carbon neutral economy, and they learn from that. Mm-hmm. So it takes us all to work together. So I’m, I’m sure Lego is going to figure out that Right. And appropriate balance.

Scott Luton (10:50):

And no doubt about that. Actually the article mentions, of course, so many kids play with Legos and sustainability is all about protecting the earth for that our kids are inheriting. So they’re really serious as it seems about their E S G initiatives and particular their sustainability goals. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> goals. Alright. So y’all check out that article. Let us know what you think there. So Kevin, let’s get into this third and fourth story. This is an interesting one here from our friends at Supply Chain Digital. We’re talking about Change, Change, change. <laugh>

Kevin L. Jackson (11:21):

Always change, change changing chains,

Scott Luton (11:24):

Especially though in this case, Kevin, when it comes to reevaluating the use of the phrase supply chain. So tell us more.

Kevin L. Jackson (11:31):

Well, you know, the pandemic changed a lot, including the nature of the global supply and demand economy while geopolitical instability. And, you know, we can’t get away from what’s happening in the world. We have Ukraine and Russia, but, and China and, and the US and noun. We have this big flare up between Israel and Hamas. Mm-hmm. But This has all changed the shape of supply and demand economy. But in today’s world, business is moving from the concept of linear chain to dynamic configuration of a network of companies and locations. When it comes to supply. We used to always talk about locally sourced or regionally sourced, right?

Scott Luton (12:28):

Everything

Kevin L. Jackson (12:29):

Today is globally sourced. So sustainability, we just talked about that. Visibility and resilience are really defining the new standard for supply chain excellence, which means we have to question what should be sourced locally or regionally or, or globally. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, uh, this leads to the formation and management of very complex partner ecosystems. So modern supply chains are really more networked based than in the pre pandemic times. And that requires a mindset change among all of the vendors, among your vendors traditional supply chains, uh, set to become more like private training networks. Mm-hmm. All of which will be many to many trading networks that are permissioned based. You know, think blockchain, uh, this inevitable transition leads to digitally network ecosystems which shared data in the cloud think digital transformation. Right? <laugh>. So all of this is really critical to change, to keep up, to understand we’re in supply networks now.

Scott Luton (14:03):

Hmm. That word ecosystems. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> folks, if you think you’ve heard that word a lot, buckle up. ’cause these next few years we’re gonna be hearing about that a ton to somewhat Kevin’s points. ’cause it doesn’t matter what you call it, it’s just no longer things are gonna statically remain that linear supply chain. To Kevin’s point,

Kevin L. Jackson (14:21):

Yeah. Greg and I went to a event in South Carolina last year and where this came up. Yep. The importance of not no longer looking at business processes like supply chain management as a linear thing. You really have to expand your viewpoint. That’s right. And be able to manage that network.

Scott Luton (14:43):

I think that was the global Upstate conference event you Greg both spoke at. I think the other thing I enjoyed about this read here is it talked about Ernst and Young’s research into 500 senior level leaders at a wide variety of companies that all had revenues over a billion dollars. And what that research is telling them, kind of bolsters what you and I both are saying mm-hmm.

Kevin L. Jackson (15:06):

<affirmative>

Scott Luton (15:07):

By 2025, that’s where the research really sees a lot more of these autonomous supply chains really replacing these hybrid models and processes and operations that we have here today. An article, they also kind of pointed at one of the quotes pointed at, we’ve got autonomous driving cars, we’re lives are in stake. And, you know, if we can do that, we can certainly apply it to autonomous supply chains. I would say this, and we’re gonna talk about this in just a second, but, you know, these handoff points between each node and supply chain, you know, that’s where there’s a ton of risk, especially at cyber risk as digital transformation has been taking root for years. Yeah.

Scott Luton (15:45):

And there’s something about, and, and I can’t quite find the right analogy, Kevin, but with a car, I guess you got other people at risk, but all the information is kind of within the four walls of the car. And that’s where these global supply chains, especially in these really big organizations, it seems like to me the complexity is so much more right. Because you got, so, you know, thousands of suppliers, each of those information handoff points. And you got, as we’re gonna talk about in a second, you got tons and tons of bad actors that are looking for the right weak point at the right time and do bad things. Right. Kevin? Well,

Kevin L. Jackson (16:20):

I’ll tell you, you think that’s scary? <laugh> Uhoh, we, we were just talking about these networks and identifying vendors. Mm. This means that more and more vendors are small and medium sized businesses. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, In Order to be resilient in your supply chain, you need to have more sources. And as your customer base grows, you need to be able to adjust your product and services sometimes to meet a single user’s need and expectations. Right. Did you know that there are over 33 million small businesses just in the United States alone? Really? I mean, almost 62 million Americans work in small businesses. And that’s where companies are going to be sourcing from small and medium sized businesses. Now, if you have that many endpoints to deal with, think about your cybersecurity challenge. I’m with

Scott Luton (17:33):

You, man.

Kevin L. Jackson (17:34):

You need to, you need to be able to make sure that your vendor network is secure, that your vendor network hasn’t been compromised so that they can break into your network. You heard about the, uh, target breach years ago, right?

Scott Luton (17:54):

Yeah.

Kevin L. Jackson (17:54):

Did You hear about that? And that was a HVAC vendor to target. So the HVAC vendors network had been breached.

Scott Luton (18:07):

Yep.

Kevin L. Jackson (18:07):

And That enabled the malevolent actor to get into the target network and that led to hundreds of million credit cards being compromised and tens of millions of losses to target.

Scott Luton (18:24):

So autonomous supply chains are definitely gonna be here. Right? They’re, uh, yes. It’s just a matter of when I think for me and 2025, especially for the largest, most complex ecosystems we’re talking about that have thousands of those handoff Yeah.

Kevin L. Jackson (18:41):

Touch Points.

Scott Luton (18:42):

That seems a bit ambitious, but we’ll see. I wanna make sure folks understand. October is cybersecurity awareness month. So if we’re baking in an extra dose of that in our themes today, <laugh>, that’s why I wanna share this with you, Kevin. You’re talking about the target example. Our friends at Cisco, we’ve had Jack Allen with us on a, a couple different times and they pointed out, I think this was the real story that they then baked into a Cisco campaign, if I got that right. And Kevin, I think it’s one of the, for me, it’s like a level setting example. So basically a team from a local factory,

Kevin L. Jackson (19:15):

right.

Scott Luton (19:16):

They All hung out in the evenings together and they were in a bowling league. Right. Okay. A bunch of employees from this factory. Well, the bowling league had an online portal for folks that entered their scores and track scoring and where the team stood and all that stuff. Well, bad actors were noticing via social media that these teams were celebrating and posting on social media that they were on this league together.

Kevin L. Jackson (19:41):

Wow.

Scott Luton (19:41):

And So the bad actors then go to the bowling alley and then they, that’s where they discover this, uh, you know, a bowling alley website which is not gonna have perhaps, I don’t wanna generalize, but typically that’s not gonna have the same protections as a, you know, a car factory or something.

Kevin L. Jackson (19:55):

Right. Right.

Scott Luton (19:56):

So The bad actors, Kevin, were able to, using the information that the employees from this factory put into this bowling alley database, able to crack it and then trace it back, gain entry into the factory technology platforms and shut down the production line, Kevin.

Kevin L. Jackson (20:14):

Wow. You know? Yeah. So, so these social media platforms are really common targets for hackers.

Scott Luton (20:22):

Yes. Because

Kevin L. Jackson (20:23):

You can gather information just like you’re talking about.

Scott Luton (20:27):

Yeah.

Kevin L. Jackson (20:27):

For Phishing, they can imitate brands or launch malware against unsuspecting victims. Yeah. They Can also spread malware to different accounts, steal that sensitive and sometimes unsensitive data, think about it. I mean, I bowl on Mondays myself and I, you know, it’s like Really? Yeah, I do. And it’s like, okay, well I don’t think about that as being sensitive data, like Right. But you can use that information to find out additional information Mm. That May enable you to, you know, use what’s known as social engineering

Scott Luton (21:09):

Right.

Kevin L. Jackson (21:10):

To really infiltrate businesses and companies and these commercial networks.

Scott Luton (21:17):

Ah,

Kevin L. Jackson (21:17):

Cyber is critical. And, and this is the other thing, <laugh>, you can’t, in a way separate your business from your pleasure. It used to be everyone talked about the work life balance, but you know, since when we actually used to have a work cell phone, right. And a personal cell phone. Isn’t that crazy? Who does that anymore? <laugh>. It’s just too hard. Right?

Scott Luton (21:47):

It’s all one world. It’s all one ecosystem.

Kevin L. Jackson (21:50):

All one eco. You you said it. It’s another ecosystem that you have to manage. So it’s cybersecurity month. Yes. You have to protect your businesses, but think about your personal cybersecurity.

Scott Luton (22:06):

That’s right. That’s right. All right. So Kevin, fourth story. We’re moving fast. I’ll tell you what. Interesting read from industrial cybersecurity pulse. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, who is reporting on something we’ve spoken about quite a bit. Right. Even over the last 34 minutes. And that is all of this wonderful digital transformation across global supply chain. It’s the name of the game. Yeah. We’ve gotta lean into it. Right? But it also opens up new vulnerabilities for these bad ghouls and goblins that we’ve been talking about. Kevin <laugh>. Tell us more.

Kevin L. Jackson (22:37):

Yeah. You know, I love my technology. <laugh> technologies like embedded sensors and G P SS and R F I D tags, these are really helped companies transform their e existing, traditional and networked supply chain structures into more agile, flexible, open, and collaborative digital models. These models and the abundance of data. And we really, this data is great, right? Because the data can benefit from machine learning and artificial intelligence, which is particularly both of them are very useful in inventory and supply chain management. But these recent advancements in technology also increase the risk of use by cyber criminals. Hmm.

Kevin L. Jackson (23:31):

Making Manufacturing the number one target for cyber attacks. Companies are layering more systems into their IT networks to support remote work, enhance the customer experience and to generate value, all of which creates potential new vulnerabilities. You know, this was highlighted in a report from one of our longtime that was published by one of our longtime supporters of digital transformers at T business.

Scott Luton (24:11):

Hmm.

Kevin L. Jackson (24:11):

They had their last at t insight cyber report.

Scott Luton (24:16):

Yeah.

Kevin L. Jackson (24:17):

Talked About manufacturing and how it was like, you know, that sweet apple for, for cyber criminals, <laugh>, they wanna go after it. So, so companies that are layering these more and more systems onto their IT network to support remote work. You know, so this creates really bad vulnerabilities and the connectivity is dramatically increased in things like smart factories. Yep. This leaves them exposed to cyber threats. In fact, Deloitte did a survey and found that while 90% of manufacturers reported capabilities to detect cyber events, very few of these companies have extended monitoring into their operational technology environments.

Kevin L. Jackson (25:18):

SoThis, this digitized world, people continue to be one of the most glaring, weak spots in cybersecurity. So cybersecurity training should begin for all new employees.

Scott Luton (25:35):

Yep.

Kevin L. Jackson (25:35):

During The onboarding process and be continuous throughout their time with your organization. We need, from a personal point of view, strengthen passwords. ’cause this is a critical first line of defense. And make sure you use M F A or multifactor authentication, you know, when you put your password in and they

Scott Luton (25:59):

Right.

Kevin L. Jackson (25:59):

Send you something, uh, text through your cell phone.

Scott Luton (26:02):

Yes.

Kevin L. Jackson (26:03):

That’s M F a, right? You need to use that. This can really be implemented quickly and your software of your applications. I know, I know. It’s a pain. <laugh> every day. My wife complains about she has a iPhone and every day all the apps are, you know, different apps are being updated. Right. I know all this change. Why they keep updating. I like the app just like it was. But you know, these updates address security concerns, particularly in manufacturing. And in manufacturing especially sometimes you’re using this legacy machinery.

Scott Luton (26:41):

Yep.

Kevin L. Jackson (26:41):

That You really have to keep up. So applying patches whenever possible can also limit those areas of, of cyber weakness. I know we’re talking all about cyber today, but it is cybersecurity awareness,

Scott Luton (26:57):

You know, And it’s so important. I know folks hear about it all the time from passwords to, you name all the threats out there, but you know, there are folks looking to gain access to all of your critical information mm-hmm. <affirmative> and either hold it for ransom or, or opposes you or you name it, folks are under constant surveillance. I wanna point out two quick things, Kevin, first off Yeah. And you kind of touched on this, but we have got to really lean into AI, machine learning and all the modern technologies and leverage them in our active cyber strategy, right Kevin?

Kevin L. Jackson (27:30):

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Cyber defense. Absolutely. There are a lot of artificial intelligence. Machine learning is being embedded into the cyber protection software like McAfee and, and Norton. These are critical because technology changes so fast and it’s so prevalent in our lives, the attackers know and they change their attacks.

Scott Luton (27:57):

Right.

Kevin L. Jackson (27:58):

Every day. Maybe sometimes hourly and <laugh>.

Scott Luton (28:01):

Right.

Kevin L. Jackson (28:01):

Unfortunately they are using machine learning and artificial intelligence to attack you.

Scott Luton (28:09):

That’s right. Every time I read, especially, ’cause when I read it, you know, we all have that voice in our minds, right?

Kevin L. Jackson (28:15):

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Scott Luton (28:16):

Every Time I read Norton or hear Norton, I always think of Norton from the, the Honeymooners I think is what that’s from. Norton. Alright. So Norton For a second.

Kevin L. Jackson (28:27):

<laugh>, you’re, you’re showing your age, man. You’re showing your age.

Scott Luton (28:30):

I’m Mad about that. As you were sharing some of your perspective, I was looking on a different screen. I came across a top 10 list of the worst passwords that are most hacked. <laugh> and I couldn I couldn’t find it. But anyway,

Kevin L. Jackson (28:44):

1, 2, 3, 4, 5. <laugh> <laugh>,

Scott Luton (28:45):

I’ll point this out. Phishing, evidently, you know, that’s a P H I S H. Phishing is still the most common cyber attack. Kevin, 3.4 billion daily spam emails are sent out. 3.4 billion.

Kevin L. Jackson (29:00):

I get half of them <laugh>.

Scott Luton (29:02):

Seriously, I must get the other half up to 90% of data breaches are due to that phishing activity. So folks, not to preach, but just we’ve all been impacted probably. And we all are seeing these bam emails. Hey, share it with your team. Especially if you see a new wrinkle to the attack. Maybe they are uncovering this about your business or this about your business. Hey, make sure your team is aware because you know, one person may be real savvy and delete that email. Yeah. The other person, Kevin May clinging to a certain thing that was mentioned, hit that click and then man, watch out where we go from here. Kevin, your final word.

Kevin L. Jackson (29:39):

So, I mean, we’re talking about email and, and everything, but don’t, you know, don’t be lull into a sense of comfort when it comes to text. I have gotten that text to my phone that says someone has made a charge on Amazon of, uh, $1,500. If you didn’t do this charge, click here. That’s a fish <laugh>. Right?

Scott Luton (30:06):

Right.

Kevin L. Jackson (30:08):

And it can get into your cell phone and from your cell phone, get into your email and from that get into called a lateral movement, get into your laptop and from that, getting to your business. Mm.

Scott Luton (30:21):

Right? It’s all connected.

Kevin L. Jackson (30:23):

Everything’s connected.

Scott Luton (30:25):

<laugh>. Right. And we love the convenience of that, right? We all love the convenience of that. But as this last article that we just went through and y’all check out the link in the comments, all of that wonderful digital transformation, that’s a lot of good news there. But it also exposes those critical vulnerabilities that we all just have to be aware of. So y’all check it out from our friends at Industrial Cybersecurity Pulse. All right, Kevin, you broke some records with your efficiency today. Kevin <laugh>. Do you know that?

Kevin L. Jackson (30:52):

Yeah. I mean, you can’t talk enough about protecting not just your organization or your company, but each other, right? I mean, it’s who is the weakest link in cybersecurity? Don’t let it be you.

Scott Luton (31:07):

Don’t let it be. You. Do not let it be you. <laugh> and Gino adds this little deal here. I was at Bellagio. Gino says mm-hmm

Kevin L. Jackson (31:17):

<affirmative>,

Scott Luton (31:17):

When he was hacked, bad actors used the help desk to fake out the telephone that they were, the IT head needed. A password changed. So evidently it looks like he was at the hotel. Bad actors used that and convinced the maybe the hotel workers that they were the IT head and needed to have passwords changed. Man, that is bad news, Kevin.

Kevin L. Jackson (31:40):

Well, just the, uh, yesterday, a couple days ago, M G M came clean with the ransomware attacks. Really?

Scott Luton (31:48):

Okay.

Kevin L. Jackson (31:48):

They Lost over a hundred million dollars based upon a ransomware attack and the attackers stole tons of customer data, right?

Scott Luton (32:03):

Yes, that’s right. M g m oh man. A hundred million dollars in losses capital.

Kevin L. Jackson (32:06):

a hundred Million.

Scott Luton (32:08):

Wow.

Kevin L. Jackson (32:08):

That’s, it’s expected to go over a hundred million.

Scott Luton (32:13):

Unbelievable. As y’all know, Clorox, the Clorox company is still recovering from its hack from a few weeks back. Okay. Lot of good stuff here on the Buzz Digital Transformers edition. And Kevin, this is where I wanna, I wanna wrap here today. First off, let’s make sure folks, before I have a fun question for you. Okay. Kevin, How can folks connect with you? How can they tune in to digital Transformers? What would your advice be there?

Kevin L. Jackson (32:36):

Yeah, so the fourth Monday of every month is a digital Transformers show. And this month we’re gonna release a show, uh, with s a p with Topcon. And, uh, I had a great, great conversation during that show.

Scott Luton (32:52):

Okay.

Kevin L. Jackson (32:53):

And Then we have some shows coming up before the end of this year with at and t interviewing the chief information security officer For At t.

Scott Luton (33:05):

Wow. Okay.

Kevin L. Jackson (33:05):

What’d you think we’re gonna talk about <laugh> <laugh>.

Scott Luton (33:09):

I got a couple ideas and I’m sure the rest of the world’s gonna be listening. Kevin, that’s awesome. And I got confused for a second. So you’re here the second Monday of each month and we release a new episode bus on the fourth Monday,

Kevin L. Jackson (33:21):

Right?

Scott Luton (33:22):

Fourth Monday, right? Okay. Yep. Yep. I’m a little bit closer time, so I’m

Kevin L. Jackson (33:25):

Everywhere. I’m everywhere. You can also catch me on LinkedIn or on supply chain now and under Digital Transformers. Hey <laugh>.

Scott Luton (33:33):

Alright. This is what we wanna finish on here today. Okay. We need to come up with a fun little wager because your Washington commanders Kevin <laugh>, are playing my Atlanta Falcons, right? Yes. This cumin Sunday, right? This coming Sunday. So let’s do this. Okay.

Kevin L. Jackson (33:51):

Okay. Here’s the wager.

Scott Luton (33:53):

Yeah. So based on who wins and who loses

Kevin L. Jackson (33:56):

Yes. Bet on the commanders winning <laugh>. That’s right.

Scott Luton (34:01):

So here’s a simple deal. One of us has to come out decked out in the opposing team’s colors. Oh. On your next appearance based on who wins and who loses. Okay.

Kevin L. Jackson (34:12):

<laugh>, what the next buzz?

Scott Luton (34:14):

That’s right. Next buzz. Well,

Kevin L. Jackson (34:15):

You, you, you’re, you’re scaring me. <laugh>. Okay. <laugh>

Scott Luton (34:19):

Or we gotta at least get a picture of you celebrating in the opposing teams. We’ll refine that. Okay.

Kevin L. Jackson (34:24):

You’re, you’re on. That’s, y’all heard commands are gonna be commanding over the falcons.

Scott Luton (34:29):

All Of y’all heard that. So we’ve got our little friendly wager and we’ll see who wins between the commanders and the Falcons. Okay. Kevin, great episode here today. Yes. We’re gonna give folks a couple of minutes of time back. Always a pleasure having you join us. I love the cool things you’re doing from a technology, a cloud, a cyber, just a global tech standpoint, and always a pleasure to have you here. So Kevin, if you had to share one final thought, one final thought based on this discussion, based on, on the vibe you’re feeling this fine Monday morning, whatever it is, what’s your final thought to share with our audience here?

Kevin L. Jackson (35:06):

So when I was in the military, you know, they always say you have to keep your head on a swivel. You know, especially when you’re walking across a, uh, aircraft carrier deck. You Know, planes are all everywhere. You can get sucked up and killed in a, in a heartbeat. So When you’re walking around the cyber world, keep your head on a swivel for those attackers.

Scott Luton (35:29):

That’s right. They’re out there looking to do really bad things. Well, Kevin L. Jackson, always a pleasure. Really appreciate what you’re doing, you’re doing.

Kevin L. Jackson (35:37):

Thank you, Scott. This is fun.

Scott Luton (35:39):

And it was a lot of fun. And we know what we have to do. We are on together next month too. So we’ll see who wins between the Falcons and Commanders <laugh> folks. Hopefully y’all enjoyed this lively edition of the Buzz here today, the Digital Transformers edition of the Buzz. Again, big thanks, uh, folks behind the scenes, Catherine and Amanda, helping to make the production happen. But folks, whatever you do, Hey, Kevin and I have dropped a lot of, I think, practical advice here today. It’s Cybersecurity Awareness Month here in October. Just take one idea and put it in action. Deeds, not words. Make your organization, make your team safer. Make your organization safer. Make your mission safer. So with that said, on behalf of the entire team here at Supply Chain now, Scott Luton challenging you to do good, to give forward and to be the change. And we’ll see next time right back here at Supply Chain now. Thanks everybody.

Intro/Outro (36:33):

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