3 ISO Standards That Help Protect Your Supply Chain 

There are over 5.7 million companies involved in the supply chain of America that are under constant cyber-attack by foreign countries attempting to steal our intellectual property. According to the Department of Defense (DoD), there are about 350,000 prime government contractors within those 5.7 million that are part of the U.S. Department of Defense’s Defense Industrial Base (DIB). In reality, the number of government contractor should be stated as closer to 1 million or more because the supply chain of these primes goes much deeper. 

 

The DoD may see their prime contractors as the end of the line for their products, but those primes have subcontractors in THEIR supply chain, and even those subcontractors have another supply chain with THEIR suppliers. There are some DIB prime contractors that have hundreds of subcontractors and many more under those. This is why a major cybersecurity pain in the U.S. (and in many countries) boils down to securing their supply chain. 

 

So how can you help secure your supply chain? The answer comes in the form of three ISO standards: ISO 9001, ISO 27001 and ISO 28000. 

 

ISO 9001 “Quality Management System” adds Value and a Differentiator by:

• Providing improved Customer Experience

• Boosting Employee Performance, Productivity, and Retention

• Getting more revenue and Business from New Customers

• Improving the Consistency of Your Operations

 

ISO/IEC 27001“Information Security Management System” enables organizations of any kind to manage the risk and security of assets such as:

• Critical financial information

• intellectual property

• employee details and/or

• information entrusted by third parties

This standard implements a security risk management framework for your information system. It mitigates information security risk and helps protect your intellectual property. When it’s in place, ISO 27001 will also enable your company to effectively review and continually improve the security of your management systems. 

 

ISO 28000: (for Domestic) or ISO 28001 (for International) (ISO 28000/1) “Supply Chain Security Management System” enhances the company’s services by:​

• Develop and Implement Supply Chain Security Processes

• Develop and document the minimum level of risk throughout your supply chain

• Reduce the impacts of Security Threats

• Conduct Security Assessments and develop adequate countermeasures

• Implement a Supply Chain Security Plan

 

 

ISO 9001, ISO 27001 and ISO 28000 are all standards that when implemented will help protect your supply chain and the intellectual property within it. Navigating these three standards can be complex, and it pays to have a partner like DSG to help you through the process from start to finish and beyond. Contact us if you need help with any of these standards.