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Cybersecurity Risk Management - How to Manage Third-Party Risks

Every day is without hearing about data breaches that reveal hundreds of thousands or even millions of people's private information. These breaches usually stem from third-party vendors, like the company that experiences an outage to their system.

Framing cyber risk starts with accurate details about your threat landscape. This information helps you prioritize threats that need immediate focus.

State-sponsored Attacs

When cyberattacks are perpetrated by an entire nation they are likely to cause more severe damage than other attacks. Nation-state attackers typically have large resources and sophisticated hacking skills that make them difficult to detect and defend against. They can steal sensitive information and disrupt services for businesses. They also can cause more damage through targeting the supply chain of the company and the third suppliers.

The cost of a nation-state attack is estimated at $1.6 million. Nine out of 10 organizations believe they've been the victims of an attack that was backed by a state. As cyberespionage is growing in popularity among threat actors from nations-states, it's more important than ever before for businesses to implement solid cybersecurity practices in place.

Cyberattacks by states can take a variety forms, from stealing intellectual property to ransomware or a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack. They could be carried out by government agencies, employees of a cybercrime outfit that is a part of or contracted by a state, freelancers hired for a specific nationalist operation or even just criminal hackers who target the public at large.

The advent of Stuxnet changed the game for cyberattacks, allowing states to weaponize malware and make use of it against their enemies. Since then, cyberattacks have been used by states to achieve the military, political and economic goals.

In recent times, there has been a marked increase in the number of government-sponsored attacks and the sophistication of these attacks. Sandworm, a group backed by the Russian government has targeted both consumers and businesses with DDoS attacks. This is in contrast to the traditional crime syndicates which are motivated by financial gain and are more likely to target businesses that are owned by consumers.

As a result responding to threats from a state-sponsored actor requires a lot of coordination with multiple government agencies. This is a significant difference from "your grandfather's cyberattack," where a business might submit an Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) Report to the FBI however, it would not necessarily require significant coordination with the FBI as part of its incident response process. In addition to the higher level of coordination, responding to a nation-state attack also involves coordinating with foreign governments which can be demanding and time-consuming.

Smart Devices

As more devices become connected to the Internet Cyber attacks are becoming more common. This increased attack surface could pose security risks for both businesses and consumers alike. Hackers can, for example, exploit smart devices to steal information or compromise networks. This is especially true when devices aren't properly secured and secured.

Smart devices are especially appealing to hackers as they can be used to obtain lots of information about individuals or businesses. Voice-controlled assistants like Alexa and Google Home, for example can gather a large amount about their users through the commands they receive. They can also gather details about the home of users, their layouts as well as other personal details. Additionally, these devices are often used as an interface to other types of IoT devices, including smart lights, security cameras and refrigerators.

Hackers can cause severe damage to both businesses and individuals when they gain access to these devices. They could employ these devices to carry out a variety of crimes, like identity theft, fraud, and Denial-of-Service attacks (DoS). In addition, they can hack into vehicles to alter GPS locations or disable safety features. They may even cause physical injuries to drivers and passengers.

There are ways to reduce the damage caused by smart devices. For example users can change the default passwords used by factory on their devices to prevent attackers from finding them easily and enable two-factor authentication. Regular firmware updates are necessary for routers and IoT device. Local storage, as opposed to cloud storage, can lessen the chance of an attacker when transferring and storing data from or to these devices.

Research is still needed to better understand the impact of these digital harms on the lives of people, as well as the best methods to limit them. Studies should focus on identifying technology solutions that can mitigate the harms triggered by IoT. They should also look into other possible harms, such as those associated with cyberstalking and exacerbated power asymmetries between household members.

Human Error

Human error is among the most prevalent factors that can lead to cyberattacks. This can be anything from downloading malware to leaving a network vulnerable to attack. By creating and enforcing strict security measures, many of these mistakes can be avoided. For instance, an employee could click on an attachment that is malicious in a phishing campaign or a storage configuration issue could expose sensitive information.

Additionally, a user could disable a security feature in their system without noticing that they're doing this. This is a frequent error that exposes software to attacks by malware and ransomware. IBM states that human error is the most significant cause of security incidents. This is why it's important to know the kinds of mistakes that can lead to a cybersecurity breach and take steps to mitigate them.

Cyberattacks can be triggered for various reasons, such as financial fraud, hacking activism or to steal personal data and disrupt the critical infrastructure or vital services of an organization or government. State-sponsored actors, vendors, or hacker groups are often the perpetrators.

The threat landscape is complicated and ever-changing. Organisations must therefore constantly examine their risk profiles and revise security strategies to keep up with the most recent threats. The good news is advanced technologies can help reduce an organization's overall risk of being a victim of a hacker attack and also improve its security measures.

It's crucial to keep in mind that no technology can shield an organization from every possible threat. It is therefore essential to devise a comprehensive cyber security strategy that considers the different layers of risk in the organization's ecosystem. It's also essential to conduct regular risk assessments instead of relying on traditional point-in-time assessments that can be easily erroneous or inaccurate. A comprehensive assessment of a company's security risks will enable more efficient mitigation of those risks and ensure that the company is in compliance with industry standards. This can ultimately prevent costly data breaches and other security incidents from adversely damaging a business's reputation, operations, and financials. A successful strategy for cybersecurity will include the following elements:

Third-Party Vendors


Third-party vendors are companies which are not owned by the company but offer services, software, and/or products. These vendors usually have access to sensitive information such as client data, financials or network resources. The vulnerability of these companies can be used to access the business system they originally used to operate from when they are not secure. cybersecurity service is why cybersecurity risk management teams have begun to go to the extremes to ensure that the risks of third parties are identified and managed.

The risk is growing as cloud computing and remote working become more common. A recent survey conducted by the security analytics firm BlueVoyant found that 97% of businesses surveyed were negatively affected by supply chain security vulnerabilities. That means that any disruption to a vendor - even if it is a tiny part of the business's supply chain - could cause an unintended consequence that could affect the whole operation of the business.

Many organizations have created a process to onboard new third-party suppliers and require that they sign service level agreements that define the standards they are held to in their relationship with the company. A good risk assessment should include documenting how the vendor is evaluated for weaknesses, analyzing the results on the results, and then resolving them in a timely manner.

Another way to protect your business from threats from third parties is by implementing the privileged access management software that requires two-factor authentication to gain entry into the system. This stops attackers from easily gaining entry to your network through the theft of credentials.

Last but not least, make sure that your third-party service providers are using the latest version of their software. This will ensure that they have not introduced any unintentional security flaws in their source code. Most of the time, these flaws go undetected and can be used as a way to launch more high-profile attacks.

In the end, third-party risk is an ever-present risk to any company. While the above strategies may assist in reducing certain risks, the best method to ensure that your risk to third parties is minimized is to conduct continuous monitoring. This is the only way to know the condition of your third-party's cybersecurity and quickly spot any potential risks that could be present.

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