This Week in Supply Chain Now: June 1st – 5th

In July, what is being called the “largest IT outage in history” grounded air cargo and travel and caused “substantial disruptions” to the networks of such supply chain giants as FedEx and UPS. While cybersecurity company CrowdStrike blamed the worldwide outage on a “software update” and not a cyberattack, the event illustrates the importance of taking measures to safeguard the supply chain systems we all rely on for the movement of goods and people. Cybersecurity is Paramount in Digital Supply Chain A Boston Consulting Group (BCG) report published in October 2023 said that “bad actors are using more sophisticated tools and techniques to exploit vulnerabilities in digital networks, and weak points can be difficult to detect. Companies with established cybersecurity capabilities are being compromised through less sophisticated third parties that are connected to their network.” Today’s Supply Chain Remains Vulnerable to Cyberattacks According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, the number of organizations targeted by supply chain cyberattacks skyrocketed by 2,600% between 2018 and 2023. Verizon’s 2024 Data Breach Investigations Report said there was a 68% year-over-year leap in the amount of “supply chain interconnection” involved in cyber breaches. Among high-profile cyberattacks affecting the supply chain: In December 2020, Forward…

It’s safe to say supply chain podcasters won’t run out of things to talk about this year. With ever-evolving policies like the United States’ changing trade levies, experienced supply chain podcasts aren’t outlining podcasts, booking guests, or recording programs too far in advance. These days, material can be stale before it even airs! Trust Supply Chain Now to keep abreast of the very latest developments on the compliance and trade fronts to keep podcast listeners up to date. Tariffs: Keeping Up With Policy Shifts The United States’ trade relationships with many countries around the world have become rocky under the new Trump administration. At the time of writing, President Trump had imposed 25% tariffs on all products from Canada and Mexico. Canada immediately responded March 4 with 25% tariffs on nearly $21 billion of U.S. goods, with levies on another $86 billion of American products promised by March 25. Two days later, Trump suspended the tariffs on most goods from Canada and Mexico and moved the implementation date to April 2. The president also increased the tariff on Chinese imports from 10% to 20%. China retaliated with 15% tariffs on U.S. chicken, wheat, corn, and cotton and 10% tariffs on…