Almost every business has to outsource. Of course, outsourcing varies from business to business, but you will be hard-pressed to find a company that does not rely on third-party vendors to run its operations.
With this reliance comes opportunity (for cyber attackers) and risk (for businesses). But as in reliant relationships, companies are often forced to continue using third-party vendors out of necessity, even if they have low confidence in their cybersecurity practices.
When we say “third-party vendors,” here are some examples of vendors your organization may use that would qualify as a third-party vendor: software development, payroll, bookkeeping, data processing, suppliers, contractors, and other partnered businesses. Unfortunately, as excellent as the service or partner may be, you are opening your organization to a potential third-party data breach unless you monitor its cybersecurity practices. Why is this? It’s because, as is the nature of third-party vendor relationships, you are often sharing information (typically sensitive) with the vendor for them to carry out their services that support your business operations or reach your customers directly. Because they have access to your data, they directly affect the security of that data. If their business practices do not support proper management of sensitive data, your own business’s cybersecurity business practices won’t be enough at the end of the day.
Recent research by the Ponemon Institute revealed that only 34% of organizations are confident in the cybersecurity practices of their third-party suppliers. More specifically, they were only 34% confident that the supplier would notify them in case of a security breach. That means a supplier could put your sensitive data in known danger and not even give you the courtesy of a notification email. Crazy, right?
And it’s not just confidence we’re talking about here. 54% of respondents reported a data breach caused by a third-party vendor in the past 12 months. That means that over half of the organizations were negatively affected by the poor security protocols of their vendors. It seems like time for some change, doesn’t it?
This isn’t the only time we’ve discussed the dangers of third-party vendors, suppliers, and emails. We know that choosing your vendors carefully is essential, as third-party breaches cause up to 26 times more damage than first-party breaches. We also know that most organizations fail to fully understand the risk surrounding third-party email and security protection, opening their organization to unknown risks.
In addition to discussing the dangers of third-party vendors, we discuss a wide range of topics relating to technology, cybersecurity, and business on our PK Tech blog. From email security to phishing and ransomware, and even tips for compliance within your industry–you can find it all here. To get in touch with a member of our team about the IT services we provide, contact us here.
