Businesses today are encountering distinctive challenges in the cybersecurity space. As the proverb goes, “A chain is only considered as strong as its weakest link,” and this has never been more applicable, mainly when the subject matter is cybersecurity. Companies and firms today should be able to identify their security very attentively as they are bonded to the resilience of their third party vendors and suppliers.
Whenever there is a notable breach, the data gets passed down to the Dark Web, putting one at risk. The rest highlight the vital requirement of robust, reliable, and highly advanced third party risk management services. Better knowledge of the vulnerabilities associated with third-party vendors and the implementation of robust strategies that can help mitigate such threats remain essential for retaining a better security posture.
Why Third Party Access is High Risk Access
Vendors have real access to sensitive company data both directly as well as indirectly. The better access is combined with the reality that the vendors may often need to follow similar strict security standards identical to the manner in which the firms they are serving while creating high potential risks. The security breach at the end of the vendor would turn into a major breach on the side of your business that exposes your entire operations to greater cyber threats. We will now take a look at a few of the threats commonly imposed by third party vendors and suppliers.
Increased Attack Surface
The different perks of collaborating with third parties are achievable if they get access to the least specific parts of the systems and applications of the company. The issue included here is that this uncontrolled and unchecked access would create a greater surface attack that would offer the cybercriminals greater opportunity to exploit the possible risks through the dark web. Additionally, a security risk exposure or a security gap in the systems of the third party often serves as the pathway for infiltrating every associated network.
Data Breaches and Privacy Concerns
The third parties would often tackle the key data and the data that makes them highly allured targets for cybercriminals. Any significant data breach happening in the company’s infrastructure has some serious impact, leading to greater exposure of data, loss of finances, and damage to the business reputation. Furthermore, the privacy regulations that involve the CCPA and GDPR hold the companies accountable for the mishandling of the customer data by the third party suppliers and vendors. According to the survey data of Forrester, it stated that about 55% of the security professionals have reported that their company had experienced a breach or an incident that involved third party providers in the past year.
Supply Chain Attacks
As we have already noted, out of the current security incidents, the malicious actors would often target third party vendors as modes of launching crippling attacks. It impacts the entire vendor system as the attackers would often introduce malicious code or tampered products in the supply chain, leading to massive damage. It includes the threats to human life and physical damage in instances like industrial enterprises and the impact of business operations.
Insider Threats
Effective collaboration of third parties is theoretically reliant on trust, as inside threats pose a notable risk. Any malicious insider in the organization would intentionally leak key data or damage systems, negatively impacting the security and stability of the organization. Any reputed contractors or vendors would lead to significant damage upon operating unmanaged or unmonitored devices.
How Data Breaches Lead to Dark Web Leaks
In case the data gets leaked, it is transferred to the Dark Web, where other hackers will buy it. The Dark Web is the part of the Internet that is unavailable through search engines and requires a specific browser to reach. It has become the meeting ground of criminals, where they engage in activities such as smuggling stolen information.
When data is posted on the Dark Web, it goes directly into circulation for different forms of bad actors to use. These people can utilize the data to accomplish a range of nefarious activities, such as identity theft, embezzlement, or espionage. The longer data is exposed on the Dark Web, the more dangerous it becomes or, the more potential it has to inflict damage.
For example, suppose a third party vendor of a business has access to customers’ payment information. In that case, this vendor can be hacked, and credit card information can be sold on the black market. This can result in fraudulent charges, monetary loss on the part of the affected consumers and a massive blow to the companies in terms of their image. Also, once this data is out there, it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to withdraw that data in the public domain.
Strategies to Mitigate Third Party Security Risks and Dark Web Threats
Considering the risks often linked to third-party vendors, it becomes essential for businesses to undertake proactive steps to safeguard themselves. Let us explore a few strategies that can help mitigate the risk of data breaches while preventing the breached data from ending up on the Dark Web.
Limit Access Rights
Whenever an organization starts a new third party vendor relationship, it may be pressured into giving the new vendor access to its systems with all the necessary permissions so that it can start operations more efficiently. Nonetheless, under the concept of zero trust, third party vendors should be granted access rights based on the principle of least privilege.
This means that authenticated users are provided with the required applications to perform the tasks assigned to them and no other application. By limiting user access and effective network management, if there are cyber attackers who get into the system in the first place, it becomes difficult for them to spread within the network and unleash havoc with the use of the dark web. Implementing the principle of least privilege also minimizes the risk of human mistakes, which remain one of the leading causes of data breaches.
Require Multi-Factor Authentication
In the zero-trust model of access, access is known by parameters based on identity. On the other hand, multi-factor authentication (MFA) enhances the phase of user identification in that the user provides several means of identification. This makes it even more difficult for unauthorized people to log into the system even if the login details are seized.
Enable Session Recording & Supervised Access
The zero-trust access solution is also effective in the sense that it offers security measures even after a user is identified to be legitimate. Another oversight control is session recording, which assists in identifying abnormal behavior and assists in post-incident reconstruction and is very helpful for audit services and supervised access.
Supervised, in turn, refers to access where the users must request the administrator for specified sensitive applications. This request is logged to the admin, who can watch the session in real-time to ensure that the user is okay. Whenever a trace of intrusion is detected, the admin can restrict the user from the provided application and end the session.
Third Party Policies and Enforcement
To eliminate the probability of experiencing a data breach, one should revise the policies of a third party vendor and update them if necessary due to the emergence of new threats. Policies are set up to be executed. If your organization is executing its security policies, you are setting the agenda with vendors that their compliance is optional. This can lead to a rather insecure position in which the rules are violated, and your network could be left with security holes known only to the attackers.
Create an SLA
Establishing a robust SLA or Service Level Agreement or a business agreement remains essential for ensuring that third party vendors are upholding the key security protocols. Creating an SLA with the vendors effectively reinforces your need for security while holding them responsible for the breach due to their fault or negligence. These agreements would even require them to take part in the audits. It is important to evaluate your company’s need for security to ensure that it includes the SLA.
Conclusion
One essential factor here should be promoting a transparent and open dialogue in developing the ideal strategies to handle all sorts of third party risks and prevent the data from getting misused across the Dark Web. This is a multifaceted approach and an overly concerning topic; however, it can aid you in staying aware and implementing better strategies to mitigate third-party risks.
