According to an article on comcast.net entitled “U.S. mounting first test of cyber-blitz response plan,” the US government is today beginning a test of their response to a cyber attack that might threaten “vital services such as power, water and banks.” I’ve written previously about how cyber attacks pose a very real threat to supply chains and the above-linked article acknowledges that “bits and bytes of malicious computer code could soon be as central to 21st-century conflict as bullets and bombs.”

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A cyber-blitz involves more than just nuisance computer problems. Because so many processes are computerized, a large-scale cyber attack could cut off electricity to large regions – including those regions in which your plants and your supplier facilities are located – and disrupt commerce by halting the flow of digital cash between financial institutions.

Think about what would happen to your supply chain if such an attack occurred and went unmitigated. It’s not pretty is it?

But is it far fetched? In the article, U.S. Army General Keith Alexander, the head of a new military cyber-warfare unit, calls such a destructive attack “a real probability.”

Does your procurement contingency plan address cyber attacks?

Do you think it should?