Why the next attack on your business will start at somebody else's

In 2027, the incident most likely to stop a small UK business trading will start at a supplier or customer it relies on. This first episode of a nine-part series examines how supply chain compromise has become the dominant cyber risk for small firms, even when their own security is in good order. Lucy Harper and Noel Bradford analyse three emerging threats: being knocked over by a compromised customer, the trusted supplier whose email turns against you, and the freelancer who isn’t what they claim. Drawing on the October 2025 breach of a widely used backup tool, the 2025 Jaguar Land Rover attack that touched five thousand organisations, and new NCSC warnings about state-aligned IT workers posing as freelancers, the episode provides a practical five-and-five exercise to map your most critical relationships.

Recorded as the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill reaches its final stages in Parliament, this episode includes no jargon, no percentages taken out of context, and a clear action plan for Tuesday morning.