lead centered=”no”Supply chain is sexy again, and NIST hopes that means more companies take its supply chain risk guidance seriously./lead

Cybersecurity in the supply chain is a dense, massively complicated topic that lies beyond the comprehension of all but a few dedicated experts. It has nonetheless risen to the top of security challenges organizations face today. “Supply chain is the new black. Supply chain is sexy again. That’s kind of hard to imagine,” said Jon Boyens, manager, security engineering and risk management at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Boyens, who manages cybersecurity supply chain efforts at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), made that comment during a plenary session at NIST’s Cybersecurity Risk Management Conference.

NIST’s long history with supply chain risk

NIST is an old hand at supply chain outside the cybersecurity realm, starting decades ago when it began developing guidance for managing risk in global industrial and defense supply chains. “Supply chain is the most mature in its gestation because we’ve had all sorts of permutations along the way. This is an old topic for defense organizations,” says Matt Barrett, NIST’s Cybersecurity Framework lead.

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