Third-party data breaches on the rise in the U.S.

Opus, the provider of global compliance and risk management solutions, announced Thursday (Nov. 15) the results of the third annual Ponemon Institute’s “Data Risk in the Third-Party Ecosystem” study, which found that 59 percent of companies surveyed said they have experienced a data breach caused by their vendors or third parties.

In a press release announcing the results of the survey of more than 1,000 CISOs and other security and risk professionals across the U.S. and U.K., Opus said that in the U.S., the percentage of companies that faced a data breach because of a vendor or third party was higher at 61 percent, which is up 5 percent from last year and 12 percent from 2016. The research also found that 22 percent of respondents admitted they didn’t know if they had a third-party data breach during the past 12 months, and more than three-quarters of companies think third-party cybersecuritybreaches are increasing.

“The third-party ecosystem is an ideal environment for cybercriminals looking to infiltrate an organization, and the risk only grows as these networks become larger and more complex,” said Dov Goldman, VP of innovation and alliances at Opus, in the press release. “To stay ahead of the risk, companies and executives need to collaborate around plans for third-party detection and mitigation that supports automated technology and strong governance practices.”

 

continue reading »