Nation-States, Economic Protectionism, National Security, the Solarwinds Cyber-Attack, and the Impact on Supply Chains from the Russian-Ukrainian War

This paper aims to discuss the cyber and kinetic effects of supply chain disruptions from the perspective that kinetic disruptions have a far more significant impact than cyber disruptions. The SolarWinds supply chain cyber-attack is reviewed in light of its kinetic effects. The Russian-Ukrainian war is then discussed, where the article observes that the kinetic effects of the conflict have far more real-life consequences than the SolarWinds cyber-attack. The paper’s thesis does not discount the effects of a cyber-attack on supply chains. Instead, it perceives that kinetic disruptions of supply chains due to economic sanctions are promptly experienced, whereas cyber disruptions have an almost ethereal quality as far as the public is concerned. The result is that the current economic sanctions against the Russian Federation, its allies, and its people are affecting the sanctionees and the sanctionors. The article concludes that the supply chain disruptions caused by Western sanctions have a larger kinetic effect than the SolarWinds cyber-attack.