Geopolitical events and supply chain risks: Is your business prepared?

Geopolitical tensions dominate headlines across the globe, and the resulting impact on cybersecurity is more urgent than ever. Disruptive events—such as geopolitical conflicts or attacks on infrastructure—can trigger immediate and severe economic and human consequences for organizations, especially when essential supply chains are at stake. The impact extends far beyond financial losses; in some cases, these disruptions can jeopardize employee safety. For instance, critical processes are often outsourced globally to increase efficiency and the bottom line. These include functions such as accounts payable/receivable, Information Technology (IT), cybersecurity, manufacturing, and logistics. Many organizations envision greater business resiliency and competitive advantages through their supply chain but oftentimes create single points of failure that may impact an organization disproportionately relative to their competitors. Such acute impacts underscore why organizations need proactive planning and strong resilience measures to protect both their people and their core business.

When a critical service provider is taken offline or supply lines are disrupted, how quickly can your business adapt? Assessing your capacity to withstand and recover from these acute events is not just prudent; it is essential for long-term operational and overall business resilience.

By focusing on essential cybersecurity, supply chain visibility, resiliency, and actionable response plans, organizations can strengthen their security and protect long-term financial stability. So, where should you start? We’ll walk through the practical pillars that form a robust defense strategy.

Acknowledge hidden vulnerabilities in your operations

Business leaders frequently focus on internal cybersecurity threats while overlooking external dependencies. Yet, true vulnerabilities frequently lie outside your direct control. When you outsource business processes, data storage, or critical IT services, you inherit the physical and political risks of those third-party locations.

A vendor might have headquarters in a stable region, but their support teams or data centers could sit in a volatile area. This geographical disconnect creates significant blind spots. If a crisis disrupts a specific region, how quickly will your vendor’s operations halt?

Consider a recent scenario in the healthcare sector. A major blood supplier fell victim to a ransomware attack. This single breach forced 250 hospitals and healthcare systems to implement emergency protocols. They suddenly lacked the critical supplies needed for patient care. This event perfectly illustrates how a supply chain vulnerability can paralyze operations across hundreds of organizations.

The World Economic Forum reports that 46% of large organizations identify third-party and supply chain challenges as a major barrier to cyber resilience. Protecting your peace of mind requires a deep dive into your external networks. You must understand exactly where your services are provided and how global events might disrupt them.

Recognize the fragility of physical infrastructure

Major threats to resiliency often begin with physical global disruptions. These incidents can instantly sever connections and halt operations long before a cybercriminal even touches your digital environment. Businesses may experience immediate operational paralysis, significant losses, and, in some cases, consequences that go beyond dollars—directly impacting safety and human well-being. Recognizing and preparing for these acute physical risks is a crucial step toward building robust business and cyber resilience.

On Nov. 18, 2024, two undersea communications cables in the Baltic Sea were severed. According to Reuters, the incident cut critical fiber-optic links between Finland and Germany, as well as between Sweden and Lithuania. Government officials cited suspicions of intentional damage. Many assume that cross-continental internet traffic is primarily carried by satellite, but in reality, over 95% of international data and voice transfers are transmitted through undersea cables. Physical attacks like these can instantly disrupt digital life.

Businesses relying heavily on cloud services or international communications face sudden outages when bad actors target physical assets. The World Economic Forum’s Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2026 notes that geopolitics is the top factor influencing overall cyber risk mitigation strategies. Furthermore, 64% of organizations account for geopolitically motivated cyberattacks in their strategies.

Economic sanctions, sudden regulatory changes, and regional conflicts can happen without warning. These events disproportionately affect organizations lacking visibility into their vendor networks. Strict data export laws or regional conflicts can sever communication lines and block access to critical cloud assets overnight.

Take action: Steps to build true resilience

Awareness alone can’t protect your business. You need concrete strategies to secure your operations. Implementing a comprehensive approach involves four key outcomes.

1. Conduct a supply chain review

Start by mapping your entire vendor network. Look beyond your direct providers and investigate their subcontractors. A fourth-party vendor operating in a high-risk area can cause just as much damage as a direct partner.

Identify the physical locations of the servers, support teams, and critical infrastructure supporting your business. A thorough review reveals which regions pose the highest risks to your operations. Gather this data systematically to build a clear picture of your geographic exposure.

Kaufman Rossin’s risk advisors can assist with robust vendor governance and System and Organization Controls (SOC) readiness assessments. Specifically, SOC for Supply Chain evaluations help you confirm that your partners maintain proper security protocols.

2. Perform a formal resiliency review

A resiliency review evaluates how well your organization can absorb and recover from external shocks. This process goes beyond identifying risks; it tests your capacity to withstand them.

Analyze your core business processes to pinpoint single points of failure. If a geopolitical crisis eliminates access to a key service, what happens next? Can your internal team absorb the workload, or will operations grind to a halt?

Comprehensive threat, risk, and vulnerability assessments can help uncover these weak points. By identifying gaps in your network architecture and cloud environments, you can implement secondary providers and establish the geographic diversity needed to maintain operations.

3. Update business continuity planning

Geopolitical events may occur and evolve quickly, meaning your continuity plans must remain current. A static document sitting on a server doesn’t provide value during an active crisis.

Integrate location-based threat scenarios into your existing framework. Detail exactly how your team will respond if a foreign partner goes offline due to sanctions or conflict. Create specific communication protocols to keep internal teams and clients informed during an outage.

4. Develop and test your response plan

A plan only holds value if it works in practice. Develop specific playbooks for various geopolitical scenarios, such as sudden international incidents taking a vendor offline.

Run regular tabletop exercises with your leadership team. Simulate a sudden vendor outage caused by an international incident. Challenge your team to navigate the crisis using only the tools and plans currently available to them.

Testing your plan highlights gaps and builds the organizational muscle memory needed to react calmly during a real crisis.

Cultivate proactive user awareness

It takes more than technology to protect your organization. The human element remains a significant vulnerability in any security program. The Verizon 2025 Data Breach Investigations Report reveals the human element plays a role in 60% of breaches. Ransomware now factors into 44% of breaches, representing a 37% increase from the previous year.

These incidents often involve non-malicious actions. An employee might fall for a sophisticated phishing email or a targeted social engineering scam. The FBI reports $55 billion in financial losses due to business email compromise scams.

To transform your team into the first line of defense, teach them to approach incoming communications with a healthy dose of skepticism. Regular training sessions that simulate real-world phishing attempts are crucial. When employees know how to spot red flags, they become your strongest asset against data compromises and financial fraud.

Strengthen your security strategy today

Geopolitical tensions will continue to influence the cyber threat landscape for years to come. Waiting for a disruption to happen puts your business at significant financial risk. Taking action now can minimize potential liabilities tied to recovery costs and keeps your operations running smoothly.

Evaluate your current security posture to identify hidden weaknesses. Protecting sensitive information and systems is a fundamental business priority. You must understand the specific cybersecurity threats your business faces and the solutions available to protect your data.

Are you prepared to optimize your approach to risk? Professional guidance helps you identify vulnerabilities and implement tailored financial and operational solutions. Contact Kaufman Rossin’s Cybersecurity and Data Privacy team to learn more about how our integrated solutions can help you navigate today’s complex threat landscape and secure your peace of mind.