A system dynamics case study of resilient response to IP theft from a cyber-attack

Undesirable changes in supply chain physical operations derived from disruptions in the transmission or storage of digital information are reported daily despite the Information Technology (IT) protection available. Once a disruption materializes, the company losses will depend on the coherence and swiftness of the supply chain response (resilience). However, current resilience frameworks are qualitative, do not address evolution over time as a relevant aspect, and thus do not provide indications on how to design a resilient response. This paper contributes to closing this gap by developing a system dynamics model from an actual case of resilient response after a cyber-attack. Both case-specific and generic structures are extracted from the case data analysis, and a reaction mechanism is proposed that results in the observed behavior. The identification of these structures should eventually aid decision makers in the process of designing a resilient supply chain response.