Cyber Supply Chain Security and the Swedish Security Protected Procurement with Security Protective Agreement

Abstract: Digitalisation and globalisation are increasing the number of integrated and interconnected information technology (IT) systems worldwide. Consequently, these relationships and dependencies develop technological relationships through their services. Identifying all these relations is for organisations a challenge and complex since it involves millions of source code lines and global connections. For this reason, cyber supply chain risk management (C-SCRM) is becoming ever more critical for organisations to manage risks associated with information technology and operational technology (OT). At the same time, during a press conference, the Swedish Minister for Defense Peter Hultquist estimated that there are approx. 100.000 cyber activities against Swedish targets every year that targets both the Private and Public sector. In response to the evolving threat landscape, Sweden is experiencing a paradigm shift in protective security processes with new legislation entering into force that aims to protect Sweden's security against espionage, sabotage, terrorist offences and other crimes against national security. These rules on protective security, the Protective Security Act (2018:585) and Protective Security Ordinance (2021:955) apply to operators that are important for Sweden's national security and affect how public procurement processes are regulated. This thesis aims to study how the Swedish Security Protected Procurement with Security Protective Agreements (SUA) process and Cyber Supply Chain Risk Management (C-SCRM) relate and to understand what practices increase and decrease the level of C-SCRM in the current SUA process. The research questions are Q1) How does the SUA process relate to C-SCRM? and Q2) How does the SUA process affect the level of C-SCRM? This research paper contributes to understanding C-SCRM in the context of the Swedish Security Protected Procurement with Security Protective Agreements (SUA). To answer the research questions a Case study strategy was used, and interviews were conducted with eight key experts as well as a document analysis. The results showed that audit, regulation and people and processes are essential to managing C-SCRM and that processes within other international models, including the CMMC and Cyber Essential Plus, should be adopted to the SUA process to better manage cyber supply chain risks.