Supply Chain Security Requires Acquisition Reform, Security Experts Say

travel mania/Shutterstock

To secure the government’s IT ecosystem, agencies must better understand their tech, the vendors who built it, and those companies’ suppliers.

The government can make significant progress in securing its IT supply chain by following a few basic procurement practices, but most agencies have yet to adopt them, according to federal security experts.

While government leaders have recently given a lot of attention to the supply chain security threats posed by foreign vendors, officials must devote equal energy to reforming their acquisition policies so they put those warnings to good use, experts said. Those efforts require an in-depth understanding of both the government’s IT infrastructure and the countless firms in its vendor pool, they said, but today that remains a challenge for most agencies. 

“Supply chain [security] is where we were with cyber[security] maybe 15, 20 years ago,” Michele Iversen, director of risk assessment and operational integration at the Defense Department, said Tuesday during a panel at Fifth Domain’s CyberCon event. “We really don’t really have the visibility that we need to know where the threats are and what’s actually happening.”

While it’s relatively easy to stay away from high-profile companies like Kaspersky Lab and Huawei, there are hundreds of thousands of firms that do business with the government, and still more that support those vendors. Each of those firms could pose a range of potential risks—from espionage threats to poor software development practices—and procurement officials don’t always know who to trust, panelists said.

During the event, they offered a few policies that could go a long way in addressing those risks.

In the case of the Defense Department, officials do a good job vetting vendors for critical projects like weapons systems, Iversen said, but they don’t always apply the same scrutiny to more standard purchases. Expanding basic due diligence practices across all acquisitions help agencies better understand the threats they face and work around them.

She also pushed agencies to more closely examine the companies that supply their vendors, and where their products originate. Much of that information is publicly available, she said, and her team is working to build a tool that would make that data more readily accessible.

John Boyens, acting deputy chief of the computer security division at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, said agencies must gain a more holistic understanding of the critical systems within their IT ecosystem and monitor how vendors access those technologies. Government contractors should also follow suit, he said.

"These are some of those best practices that if the entire supply chain used, it would plug up a lot of those holes,” Boyens said, adding that NIST plans to release a report on supply chain best practices “in the next few weeks.”

Iversen also encouraged procurement specialists to adopt software bills of materials for the tech they buy and create “common sense” policies for using foreign tech, like banning tools from state-owned companies from mission-critical operations. She also pushed the government to increase accountability for vendors that sell dubious tech.

Panelists also noted there are a handful of technology solutions that could improve supply chain risk management, but agencies have been slow to adopt them. In the years ahead, the government could use its purchasing power to further expand the marketplace for such tools.

“Industry is waiting for demand signals,” Boyens said. “We need to start asking for some of these things before industry will actually invest in them.”

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.