Published on April 25, 2026 • 5 min read Strengthening your cybersecurity protects your operations, while also helping you access new markets. Today, success in exporting is driven by more than just product quality, price or delivery times. It increasingly depends on a company’s ability to protect its data, systems and supply chain. In other words, cybersecurity is no longer merely a technical issue. For many markets, it is becoming a prerequisite for gaining access. Cybercriminals target the weakest link The tightening of regulations in Europe, the United States and elsewhere can be explained by a simple fact: the global economy relies on complex, interconnected supply chains. A weakness in one supplier can undermine the entire ecosystem. Large organizations have invested heavily in strengthening their security. Cybercriminals are well aware of this. Rather than targeting the best-protected companies directly, they often look for an easier point of entry through a supplier, business partner or subcontractor. That explains the rise in stricter requirements, particularly in Europe. The introduction of the NIS2 Directive and the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA), for instance, contributes to increased expectations regarding cyber-resilience and supply chain security. The approach in the United States is different. There, we see more compliance frameworks and standards, such as those from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the guidelines from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). These may not necessarily be laws in the strict sense, but in practice, such frameworks strongly influence market expectations. The impact of cybersecurity requirements on exporters For a Canadian company looking to export or integrate into an international supply chain, cybersecurity can quickly become a barrier to entry. In practical terms, this implies that, when responding to a call for tenders or joining a supply chain, you may be asked for very