Workers producing garments at a textile factory that supplies clothes to fast fashion e-commerce company Shein in Guangzhou in southern China's Guangdong province. Jade Gao | Afp | Getty Images The rise of Asian fast fashion retailer Shein already has Amazon on alert, but its plans of selling proprietary supply-chain technology and services to companies around the world has attracted attention from another corner: U.S.
cybersecurity firms and national security experts who warn of the potential for a company with close ties to China spying on the supply chain as it seeks to grow its global logistics footprint. Shein logistics software is in beta testing with select supply chain customers, according to a person familiar with its plans. The U.
S. supply chain has millions of connection points that link companies of all sizes. What makes the connections hum are application programming interfaces, or APIs, used by companies to increase efficiencies and save money.
API software allows applications to communicate with each other in real-time and is crucial to logistics companies to integrate with freight providers, streamline operations, and create efficiencies for providers in their supply chain and ultimately, the end customer. "The APIs in the logistics infrastructure are very interconnected, often without cybersecurity being contemplated," said Lee Kair, principal and head of the transportation and innovation practice at The Chertoff Group, who formerly served as a top official a.
