5 Best Risk Controls To Prevent Third-Party Data Breaches

As the world is moving towards digitalization, cyber-security threats are becoming more sophisticated than ever. There has been increasing number of attempts in recent times where hackers have been targeting organizations by capitalizing on vulnerabilities that their third-party vendors and suppliers are exposed to. Securing client data that includes PII is of utmost importance for financial services and other industries alike. But the central problem  for third-party data breaches the lack of control over  the vendors’ cyber-security framework

Below are some controls that should be  in place to prevent the Third Party Data breaches:

1. Analyze the Vendor’s Cyber-Security Risk

One of the basic steps to keep your data safe is to analyze your vendor’s cyber-security risk before onboarding them. Performing vendor due diligence particularly focusing on their cyber security policies, procedures and controls provides a thorough assessment of their cyber security posture.

It is important not to provide access to PII data without first estimating the cyber risk posed by the vendors.  

2. Vendors & Access of Data

To avoid a third-party data breach, it’s essential to know your vendor’s data access limit. If your data is reachable to every vendor without any restrictions, there is a high chance of data breach. So, to keep your organization safe from the vendor data breach, you should limit your data access to the vendor depending on their security posture

This sometimes becomes little complex with many different departments and various vendors associate with each department. Hence it becomes imperative to have a centralized view of all third party risk enterprise wide.

3. Monitoring Vendor’s Cyber-Security Controls

One thing that should not stop is the regular monitoring of suppliers' cyber-security controls. Because every day, hackers are becoming more sophisticated,so  the vendors' cyber-security controls  should be updated to address the cyber attacks.  

To keep our clients data safe, we ensure to do the regular assessments of the supplier cyber risk controls for our clients

4. Staff Training and Security Software:

Employees get access to lot of proprietary and confidential information which is sometimes materially nonpublic. To keep this data secure, staff training and awareness is one of the most significant elements. A lot of vulnerabilities exists due to insufficient staff training and awareness about cyber risks. Training and awareness for cyber security risk should be embedded in the cultural fabric of firms.  Additionally, keeping your security software updated with regular patching also minimizes the hackers attacking chances and reach.

5. Fourth Party Risk Assessment

By the fourth party, we mean the companies on which our third parties are dependent such as your vendor’s subcontractors. Firms should have visibility into the subcontractors that their third party suppliers are utilizing for any needs. The vulnerabilities that these fourth parties pose to the third parties can directly or indirectly impact your firm

To tackle this concern, you can take two steps:

1. You can create inventories of third parties’ vendors who will have access to your private data.

2. Contractually bounding the vendors to notify you whenever they share your data with the fourth party.

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