This piece is inspired by the presentation, Perspectives on Cyber Supply Chain, delivered by Bradford Bleier during ThreatLocker’s Zero Trust World 2025. Bleier, a Cybersecurity Compliance Manager at ThreatLocker, provided a deep dive into the complexities of the wild west of the supply chain — covering hardware, software, and services.
Aligning Security Programs and Operations with Business Strategy
In cybersecurity, aligning security strategies with business objectives involves much more than threat defense. It requires organizations to integrate security practices directly into their business models, ensuring that every security decision supports operational goals, regulatory compliance, and overall risk management. This approach positions cybersecurity as a critical enabler of business processes, revenue generation, and customer trust.
Addressing Operational Challenges in Supply Chain Compliance
Organizations are not isolated entities but operate within complex networks of suppliers, partners, and service providers. This interconnected web, often referred to as the supply chain, introduces significant risks that must be managed not only through robust cybersecurity practices but also through vigilant regulatory and industry compliance. However, it also includes contract compliance, which many organizations may not realize nor pay attention. The supply chain itself is, in many ways, a network of trust relationships. However, as cybersecurity expert Bradford Bleier pointed out in a recent presentation during ThreatLocker's Zero Trust World conference, trust without verification can be a dangerous gamble.
Navigating Operational and Contractual Complexities
A key component of managing security within this networked ecosystem is ensuring that architectural, implementation, and process decisions align with the organization’s own risk profile, regulatory compliance mandates, and adherence to industry standards. But the challenge doesn’t stop there. These decisions must also account for contractual obligations embedded in agreements with external vendors and partners—although contracts should be viewed as a final checkpoint, not the primary driver. Many of these contracts now include stringent security language that mandates specific compliance measures, often influenced by frameworks such as NIST, HIPAA, CMMC, or FedRAMP.
The complexity arises when the security requirements outlined in these contracts do not align neatly with the organization’s existing security architecture or operational practices. According to Bleier, there is a growing trend where large enterprises include extensive cybersecurity clauses in their contracts, sometimes spanning several pages. These clauses are often written by individuals who may not fully grasp the technical and operational implications, leading to ambiguous, impractical, or otherwise contradictory requirements. Organizations then face a difficult choice: reject the contract and potentially lose business opportunities, or accept the contract and navigate the costly and complex path of compliance—not just for the contract, but for all of the other elements for which they need to adhere.
Mitigating the Operational Impact of Compliance Cascades
A specific risk associated with this scenario is the cascade effect of compliance requirements. As Bleier highlighted, compliance language is not only imposed on the primary contract holder but also pushed down to all subcontractors and their subcontractors. This creates a ripple effect where each party in the supply chain must adopt the same security measures, regardless of their size, capability, or actual exposure to the underlying risks.
For smaller organizations, this can create an almost insurmountable barrier to entry, making it difficult or even impossible to operate within certain industries. One attendee at the presentation noted the absurdity of a cable retailer potentially needing to adhere to CMMC standards simply because a buyer somewhere up the chain serves a government entity. This contractual cascade can lead to “contractual musical chairs,” where each party tries to offload compliance burdens onto the next, often resulting in confusion, inefficiency, and heightened risk.
Driving Operational Excellence: Building Resilient Security Strategies
The solution lies in a balanced approach to contract compliance, one that integrates security practices with business objectives while maintaining clarity and feasibility. Organizations must conduct thorough reviews of contractual security requirements before signing agreements. Additionally, establishing clear communication channels with vendors and partners can help ensure that security practices align across the entire supply chain. Now is the time for organizations to take proactive steps, ensuring that security decisions not only protect data and systems but also drive sustainable business growth and resilience.
Comments and feedback are always welcome. If you have a guest proposal to discuss this further on my Redefining CyberSecurity Podcast, let me know.
Cheers,
Sean
Stay Connected and Keep Thinking and Learning
To learn more about Zero Trust security strategies and how to build a stronger cybersecurity posture for your business:
Connect with the ThreatLocker team to explore solutions that support Zero Trust implementation.
Look for Marco’s companion article, The Dark Web: A Reflection of Society’s Shadows, on this same topic as part of our coverage, presented from a business of security perspective.
Watch and listen to all of ITSPmagazine’s coverage of ThreatLocker’s Zero Trust World 2025 to gain deeper insights from security experts and industry leaders.
