$4.44M average. Wrong number to chase.
Russian spies are aggressively seeking Western technology, building fake companies and recruiting middlemen to gather information. The threat actor's use of cyber espionage has been observed, with a focus on acquiring technology that could be used to attack key infrastructure.
The conventional reading misses that this is not a sanctions problem, but a third-party risk governance failure. 42% of exploited vulnerabilities in 2025 were weaponized before public disclosure, according to CrowdStrike's Global Threat Report 2026.
The defensive math: -> Assess your supplier's supplier, measuring third-party risk with a 90-day review cycle -> Implement a zero-trust architecture for intellectual property exchange, with a 30% reduction in lateral movement -> Conduct a tabletop exercise on nation-state campaign scenarios, with a 25% increase in incident response readiness
Can your board articulate the Western technology exposure in your supply chain?