Cyber resilience strategies for global expansion

Growth attracts adversaries, and a sprawling digital footprint, diverse regulatory environments, and interconnected supply chains create vulnerabilities that threat actors eagerly exploit. From geopolitical tensions to supply chain restrictions, each facet of expansion demands a proactive cyber security strategy. It’s important that growing organisations balance ambition with consideration in order to remain resilient.

The risks of expanding supply chains and localised solutions

Global expansion inevitably diversifies supply chains, introducing complexity and risk. When entering new regions, companies often face requirements to partner with local suppliers or have their supply chain decisions limited by geopolitical factors like tariffs, and the resulting options may fall short of the cyber standard for the organisation.

Without rigorous due diligence, such as assessing a vendor’s incident response plans or compliance certifications, businesses risk exposing their entire operations through a single supplier. Therefore, when expanding supply chains – both physical and digital – organisations should apply the same risk-based approach they use for their global cyber security framework to their localised dealings. If it’s not possible to bring local suppliers fully in line with the organisation’s global cyber standards, that doesn’t mean it’s game over (but more on those mitigating strategies in a moment). The important thing is to fully explore and understand the cyber risk inherent in introducing those suppliers.

Navigating regulatory complexity

Regulatory landscapes vary wildly across borders, especially where cyber security is concerned, and the landscape changes constantly. Whilst the EU enforces stringent frameworks like the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), which mandates rigorous third-party risk management, other regions have fragmented or evolving requirements. For instance, Brazil’s LGPD and California’s CCPA differ in scope and enforcement, complicating compliance for multinationals. 

The cost of retaining that compliance expertise in house is often prohibitive, but misinterpretation and noncompliance is costly, too. DORA alone imposes fines of up to 2% of global revenue for noncompliance, compelling businesses to scrutinise not just their own practices but also those of every supplier. Overlapping regulations, such as sector-specific rules in healthcare (HIPAA) and finance (PCI DSS), add layers of complexity. Companies expanding into the EU, APAC, or North America must map requirements meticulously or risk penalties, operational delays, and reputational harm. Working with a trusted partner to understand local regulations can allow businesses to expand confidently without committing full time resource to localised compliance concerns until the new territory is more established.

Building a cyber-resilient expansion strategy

Cyber risk is not to be dismissed, but if every business decision was made or unmade by the presence of cyber risk, growth would stall perpetually. Therefore, it’s up to each business to balance their growth ambitions with their cyber risk tolerance and mitigation capabilities. Here are some mitigating strategies expanding companies can use to stay resilient as they grow:

Establish a baseline global cyber security standard

Move beyond compliance checklists by adopting a risk-based framework to determine a global cyber security strategy. This baseline, which should cover basics like encryption, access controls, and incident response, ensures consistency whilst allowing flexibility to meet the demands of expanding into new territories.

Localise risk integration and segmentation

Segment networks to isolate regional operations, limiting the blast radius of a breach. For some organisations this may mean segmenting specific types of technology, and for others it may mean creating nearly independent tech ecosystems for higher risk geos. Whilst segmentation introduces friction, it prevents a compromise in one market from crippling worldwide operations.

Treat cyber security as a geo-specific challenge

Just as businesses adapt products to local cultures, they must tailor defences to regional threats. Organisations should conduct threat intelligence assessments for each market: expanding into areas prone to state-sponsored attacks? Prioritise encryption and zero-trust architectures. Entering regions with lax cyber laws? Bolster internal monitoring.

Monitor supplier dependency

Businesses should regularly audit suppliers for adherence to cyber security standards. Ideally the right to audit should be incorporated into service level agreements. Businesses can leverage tools like continuous vulnerability scanning to monitor compliance with agreed standards. Additionally, global cyber teams should consider supplier dependencies when okaying new systems. As the CrowdStrike incident of 2024 demonstrated, too much dependence across the business on a single supplier, even a step or two up the supply chain, could lead to catastrophic losses if an upstream incident occurs.

Retain global visibility and control

As businesses segment, they should ensure that they still have a global view of and control over all IT and cyber security measures. This ensures that localised operations don’t deviate too far from the global standard as they grow and thrive, and that local operators have the support they need should threats emerge.

Secure growth demands proactive resilience

As attack surfaces widen, organisations must embed resilience into every phase of growth. This means understanding regional threats, hardening supply chains, and transcending compliance to build adaptable defenses. 

Before entering a new market, ask: 

●     Have we mapped region-specific cyber threats and regulations? 

●     Do local suppliers meet our security baseline? 

●     Can we isolate a breach to a single segment of our operations to avoid global impact?

The future belongs to businesses that grow boldly but securely, and those who prioritise resilience will reap the rewards of their diligence. To learn more about how to create a risk-based cyber strategy, click here to download our latest cyber security report.