September attacks against Hezbollah's pagers and radios highlights the growing security risk for supply chains operated by multinational companies, according to Seerist, a risk intelligence firm that tracks global events impacting multinational businesses.

The attacks killed at least 30 people and injured thousands, and while no country has claimed responsibility, "the target and method suggest that (Israel's) intelligence service Mossad was behind the attacks," Seerist said.

The attacks and ensuing investigations of related companies indicate complex supply chains continue to pose legal, reputational and regulatory risks to business, the firm said. It's expected this will increase public and private scrutiny of supply chains, especially for critical goods that might be attractive to threat sources with the intent and capability to infiltrate hardware supply chains.

"The episode indicates inherent vulnerabilities in global supply chains," Seerist analysts said.

The attacks will likely reinforce national security-driven efforts to build secure and resilient supply chains by nearshoring or friendshoring manufacturing and assembly.

While government intelligence services and organized criminal groups have the intent and capability to infiltrate hardware supply chains, threat actors remain more likely to target software vulnerabilities than hardware supply chains, Seerist said. The analysts said for these targets, the necessary capabilities are low cost, low risk and readily available.