NIS2 and the Supply Chain — Why Your Suppliers Need Security Awareness Now

April 2026

NIS2 does not stop at the boundaries of your company. The directive obliges affected companies to consider cybersecurity risks across their entire supply chain. In practice, that means: your suppliers, service providers, and partners become part of your risk management — whether they like it or not.

What NIS2 Says About Supply Chain Security

Article 21 of the NIS2 Directive explicitly lists supply chain security as a mandatory measure. Affected companies must ensure that their direct service providers and suppliers also maintain an appropriate level of security.

Austria's NISG 2026 implements this with the requirement that risk-management measures must address the security of the supply chain, including security-related aspects of the relationships between each entity and its direct suppliers or service providers.

For practice, that means: if a customer falls under NIS2, it will increasingly demand evidence of security measures from its suppliers — including employee training.

The Problem: SME Suppliers Without a Security Budget

The typical scenario looks like this: a manufacturing business with 30 employees supplies components to a larger company that falls under NIS2. The supplier has no IT department of its own, no LMS, no security budget. The employees work on the shop floor, not at a desk. A classic enterprise security training — 60 minutes at a desktop, in corporate jargon — completely misses this reality.

Nevertheless, the customer will ask: "How do you ensure your employees understand basic cybersecurity risks?" And "we have no budget for that" is not an answer that strengthens a supplier relationship.

Three Approaches for the Supply Chain

The first approach is a free baseline training. Suppliers can point their employees to a freely accessible training that covers the ENISA-recommended core topics. No registration as a company, no costs, no IT effort. The training works on a smartphone — important for employees without a company laptop.

The second approach is sponsored access. Larger companies can provide their suppliers with access to a structured training program — as part of the supplier relationship. That is not generosity, it is risk management: a trained supplier is a more secure supplier.

The third approach combines training with phishing simulations. A realistic phishing campaign shows how well the supplier's employees actually respond to attacks. The benchmark report serves both sides as evidence — the supplier for its own documentation, the customer for its supply chain risk management.

Documentation Toward the Customer

When a customer asks "How do you train your employees in cybersecurity?", the supplier needs a concrete answer. Ideally it consists of a training record documenting participation, a certificate per employee, and an overview of the topics covered.

These documents are increasingly becoming part of supplier qualification — similar to evidence of quality management or occupational safety. Whoever can present them proactively has an advantage over competitors who only react on request.

A Competitive Advantage for Suppliers

For SMEs working as suppliers, security awareness is not just an obligation — it is an opportunity to differentiate. A supplier who proactively presents training records and can show that its workforce is prepared for phishing attacks positions itself as a reliable partner.

In a world where cyberattacks via the supply chain are increasing and NIS2 extends responsibility to customers, cybersecurity becomes a selection criterion in supplier evaluation.