Supply chain cybersecurity refers to the practices, technologies, and policies used to protect an organization’s systems and data from cyber risks introduced by external vendors, contractors, and partners. It encompasses both technical controls, such as vendor access management, and governance measures, such as risk assessments, compliance verification, and third-party oversight. Supply chain cybersecurity is a growing focus of global regulatory frameworks due to increasing incidents involving third-party compromise.
Vendors and third-party service providers often require privileged or remote access to operational systems for maintenance, updates, diagnostics, or support. This creates a broader attack surface, especially in critical infrastructure and operational technology (OT) environments, where unauthorized access can result in downtime, safety incidents, or regulatory violations.
Recent cyber incidents have shown that supply chain compromise, whether through vulnerable software, insecure remote access, or compromised contractor credentials, can have cascading effects across sectors. As a result, regulations such as NIS2, TSA SD02E, IEC 62443, and the EU Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) mandate that organizations:
Without adequate controls in place, third-party access becomes a key vector for cyberattacks and a compliance liability.
Xona helps secure the digital supply chain by enabling organizations to grant controlled, auditable access to external vendors without exposing internal networks or credentials. Through browser-based, protocol-isolated access, contractors can perform approved tasks such as diagnostics or patching, without VPNs, jump servers, or persistent access.
Xona enforces vendor-specific roles, time-based access, multi-factor authentication, and credential injection, preventing shared account usage and maintaining identity-level accountability. All sessions are fully logged, recorded, and reviewable, aligning with third-party access requirements in global cybersecurity regulations.
By combining vendor access control with governance features like access expiration, policy enforcement, and real-time supervision, Xona enables organizations to operationalize supply chain cybersecurity and meet the rising expectations of compliance frameworks.