Background

Due to recent concerns on the security in global supply chains, particularly in the hardware manufacturing sector in Asia region, the security initiatives for supply chain have become a critical part in the corporate management. In fact, as the supply chain concerns have been elevated, it is essential to reinforce customer confidence with proper security implements that can eliminate vulnerabilities and risks throughout the entire manufacturing and distribution circle.

Identifying the Threats

Due to the complexity in today’s globalized production, supply chain security threats come from both internal and external factors, as well as in both worlds: physical and cyber.

Internal Threat

This type of threat usually indicates damages from internal staff.

Physical Threat

Physical harms are mostly conducted by traditional means, such as piracy, theft and man-made damages.

External Threat

This covers natural disasters, physical attacks and also cyber threats which will be discussed.

Cyber Threats

Since the emergence of IoT (Internet of Things), the industrial sector has become more connected than ever. In fact, large number of factory equipments today is connected to the Internet. Though efficiencies have been achieved, new vulnerability and risks are opened, particularly cyber hacks. There have been incidents of ransomware, Phishing, malware and other malicious attacks sabotaging enterprises in their operations and service deliveries.

Assuring Confident with Manufacturing Strategy

Since manufacturing plays an integral part of the supply chain, the right production strategy will assure customers with confidence. For instance, Lanner Electronics, has long been dedicated in the “made-in-Taiwan” policy for decades. All the components involved in the production of Lanner hardware are traceable and all the networking appliances are built in onboard firmware BIOS security.

All the Lanner PCB motherboards are manufactured by Lanner’s facility in Taiwan, where all of the company’s in-house manufacturing plants, automation systems, and SMT and DIP production lines are based. In addition, Lanner offers its customers the visibility to the supply chain. The components in use are attached with RFID and programmed into MES traceability system to allow transparency so that customers can keep track of the parts for production.

The onboard firmware BIOS of Lanner’s network appliances enhances security in mission critical applications with functions including Secure Boot, Boot Guard, and TPM. To summarize, supply chain management is not just the security, but also the visibility and confidence for customers in terms of manufacturing.